Into The Darkness - Book One: Stalked
by xXLadyRachelXx
Summary: Bayley is a young, happy woman until her comfortable life is turned into a living nightmare after going out one night with her friends. Something evil is out there, wanting to hurt her. It looks like Bayley isn't safe anywhere; this force follows her everywhere, not afraid of hurting the ones she holds dear. Bayley has to find a way to stop this madness... before it's too late.
1. Little Girl

**Chapter 1**

**Little Girl**

'Daddy, why do I have to go to bed now? I'm not even sleepy yet...'

'Trust me Bayley, it's better for you if you go to sleep now.'

Smiling reassuringly to his daughter, Bayley's father kissed her on the forehead. Today she was unfortunate enough to catch a cold, as a result of playing outside in the frisky autumn wind without wearing a warm jacket a few days ago.

Clenching her plush dog against her, the little girl coughed. Bayley was seven years old, rather small for her age and everyone said she looked absolutely adorable. Big brown eyes, brown curly hair and a cheerful personality; the kind of child every parent wanted to have as a daughter.

Bayley's father had already read a bedtime story for her, listening to him talking about the adventures of a prince entering an enchanted castle to find his beloved princess made her feel slightly drowsy. But there was still one thing Bayley wanted to do before going to sleep.

'Can I still go give mommy a kiss?' the little girl asked.

'I'm afraid not, baby.' Her father shook his head. 'She's sleeping right now... and she really needs some rest. You can go give her a kiss tomorrow morning, alright?'

Bayley nodded. She understood. Before mommy got ill, she was always allowed to give her a kiss before going to sleep. Her mother had changed so much these last months... Bayley had always known her mother as a loving, kind woman who always had the time and energy to play and cuddle with her daughter. Every day when Bayley would get out of the school bus at home, her mother would be waiting for her with freshly baked cupcakes; then they would sit down at the table, enjoy the cupcakes along with a cup of tea and chat about what had happened that day at school. And at night, Bayley's mother would always tuck her in bed and read her a bedtime story. Bayley enjoyed listening to her. She didn't want to fall asleep, she wanted to listen to her mother's voice. When she finally became drowsy, mommy would always give her a kiss on the forehead, wish her a good night, tell her how much she loved her and then leave the room. Bayley loved her mother so much.

But one day, it all changed.

Bayley didn't know why, but her mother became weaker and weaker by the day. But her father seemed to know what was going on, judging by the worried look on his face he had on those days. When she would come home from school, her grandparents would be waiting for her while her mother was sitting in her armchair. She would still smile at Bayley and ask how school had been, but she didn't have enough energy to get out of her armchair to give her daughter a hug. It soon became Bayley's father's job to take care of his wife and his daughter; he was now the one who had to cook dinner, bring Bayley to bed, take his wife to the hospital once a week and go to his work to keep the household running. Bayley could often see that his eyes were slightly puffy, but she never asked why. She soon understood that her mother wasn't able anymore to make cupcakes and play with her. Bayley now knew her mother as an ill woman who was lying in bed all the time and taking pills to suppress her pain. But that never stopped Bayley from loving her.

Bayley's father stood up and turned on the teddy bear-shaped wall lamp. 'I will leave the light on for you, okay? Sweet dreams.'

'Sweet dreams, daddy.'

The big light was shut off and Bayley's father closed the door behind him. The only source of light now was the little lamp on the wall. Bayley had always been afraid of the dark, which is why her parents had purchased that lamp for her. She heard her father walking towards her mother's bedroom. For a while, she heard him talking to her mother in a calm voice, as if he was comforting her. However, the little girl couldn't exactly understand what he was saying; the walls in the house were pretty thick. Then she heard her father exiting the room and walking down the stairs, heading towards the living room. Normally she would sleep with ease if her little lamp was on, but this time, Bayley was unable to fall asleep.

It was odd... when her father was reading her the story she felt drowsy, but now she felt like she had taken a sip from her father's coffee, which she once did, mistaking it for hot cocoa. Staring at the ceiling for minutes and holding her plush dog against her, Bayley was wide awake. But it wasn't the fever that was preventing her from sleeping. Maybe, just maybe, if she would give mommy a very gentle kiss on the cheek, she wouldn't wake up. Yes, that could possibly work. Bayley decided to give it a shot.

She got out of her bed, still holding her plush dog; it would be her company while she would go to her mother's room. The door would often squeak loudly when she would open it, so Bayley tried to open it as slowly as possible. But as we all know, little children can be so naive sometimes; the door only squeaked louder when she slowly opened it. Bayley was convinced her mother must've heard her, but she decided to go to her either way.

It was completely dark in the corridor, there was not a single source of light. The little girl tried her best to suppress the wild imagination of monsters jumping out of the darkness to grab her and harm her. Monsters weren't real, that's what her mother always told her when she was too afraid to go to sleep. No, the darkness wouldn't stop her from going to her mother. Bayley forced herself to keep going, tiptoeing through the corridor. Her parents' room was right next to her own room, so luckily she wouldn't have to stay in the darkness for too long. It was hard not to cough, but Bayley managed to ignore the annoying itching feeling in her throat.

Bayley knew that knocking on a door before entering someone's room was polite, but right now it wasn't a good idea to do that. The little girl carefully opened the door, luckily this one didn't squeak like her own door. It was quiet in the bedroom, perhaps her mother didn't hear her after all and was still sleeping. Just a little kiss on the cheek and she would go back to her room, that was Bayley's plan.

The curtains in front of the windows were opened, allowing the dim light of the moon to shine right into the bedroom.

Bayley wanted to scream in horror, but couldn't produce a single sound.

The moonlight revealed a tall shadowy figure, shaped like a human, standing next to her mother's bed. It was completely shrouded in shadows, which clouded the wall behind it black. With its impossibly green eyes, the figure stared at Bayley's mother, who was staring right back at him. Bayley wanted to run, to save her mother, to push that strange 'man' away, to call her father, but she couldn't; it felt like her limbs were paralyzed. All she could do was widening her eyes in shock and stare. Her mother didn't even notice her, as if she was hypnotized by the figure's eyes.

The shadowy 'man' slightly leaned forward, as if it wanted to kiss Bayley's mother. Until now, the little girl could have only seen the eyes, but it turned out the figure had a mouth as well. It opened its mouth; Bayley's mother mimicked this movement. Suddenly, a thick blue mist emerged from her mouth. It only fueled Bayley's horror even more. What is that?! The blue mist went straight into the figure's mouth, it was like it was sucking that mist out of Bayley's mother. She didn't produce a single sound, as if this procedure didn't hurt at all. For some reason, she looked... calm. A few seconds passed before the blue mist stopped coming out of her mouth. The figure closed its mouth and stared at her, still not saying a word. Bayley's mother let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes.

Just then, Bayley finally managed to find her voice back.

'Mommy!'

She dropped her plush dog, ran into the bedroom and climbed on top of the bed. She shook her arm, but her mother wouldn't response. Bayley softly gasped when she touched her mother's skin; it was as cold as ice.

'Did he hurt you? Mommy, say something!'

But still, Bayley's mother didn't respond. Her eyes were still closed, she didn't say anything. Bayley called out for her mother again, but nothing changed.

'Mommy...?'

Oh no... Was she...?

The harsh truth struck Bayley like lightning. Her mother was no more.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as Bayley cried hysterically. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it, she was hoping it was all an awful dream. But unfortunately for this little girl, this was the cruel reality. From now on, she had to go through life without her mother. Mommy was dead and she was never going to come back... and there was nothing she could do about it. Bayley looked up, tears dripping on the sheets.

The shadowy figure was still there, staring at her motionlessly.

'This is all your fault!' Bayley screamed with a shrill voice, her sadness turning into anger. 'Mommy is dead because of you! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!'

But even the hateful words of the saddened little girl didn't do anything to get a response from the figure.

Just then, Bayley heard loud, rapid footsteps on the staircase and in the corridor. Her father was standing in the doorway with a startled look on his face.

'Bayley?! What's going on?!' he asked, alarmed by the cries of his daughter. Then he spotted the lifeless body of his wife. The shocked look on his face slowly turned into a sad one.

'Oh God... Oh no...' His voice had become much softer. He too realized that the woman he loved so much was no more.

Bayley's father got closer to the bed and lifted Bayley off from the bed, who was still crying hysterically.

'Daddy...' the little girl sobbed. 'It...' She wanted to point at the figure, but much to her shock... it was gone.

It had disappeared into thin air, as if it had never existed.

But how...?

'Sssh, it's alright baby...' her father whispered, holding his daughter in his arms. While he patted her head, tears started to emerge from the corner of his eyes. 'Mommy is in a better place now...'

Bayley buried her face against her father's shoulder, staining his shirt with her tears.

They only had each other from now on.


	2. Enjoying Life To The Fullest

**Chapter 2**

**Enjoying Life To The Fullest**

With her sight glued to the TV screen, Bayley furiously mashed on the buttons of her controller. This was the fifth time she had to restart this boss battle, this time she was determined to beat the boss of this last level and finish this game. She managed to strike the boss a couple of times, his health bar was coloring red more and more. Much to Bayley's luck, her character dodged the boss's attacks many times; she could taste her victory on the tip of her tongue. But unfortunately, this attempt to complete the game failed, just like the previous attempts. The boss struck her character, killing it instantly.

'Argh! Dang it!'

The young woman tossed the controller next to her and let out a frustrated sigh. Ugh, she was so close! She had read many reviews on the Internet of how hard this boss was when she looked for strategies to defeat him and well, those people weren't lying. It was so frustrating, it wasn't even fun anymore. Bayley decided to call it a day and quit the game.

She had recently turned twenty-five years old and over the past eighteen years, she had grown into a pretty, happy woman. Despite her mother's tragic death in her childhood, she managed to remain that same bubbly child throughout the rest of her childhood. Yes, it was hard to go on without her mother, but luckily she had her father, who had always been there for her whenever she needed comfort the most. He gave his daughter all the love she needed, making sure she wouldn't lack any support. Also, she had her friends at school and in the neighborhood, who helped her forget about her sadness by playing with her, inviting her to sleepovers and birthday parties and being overall great friends. Bayley had learned from her father to give her mother's death a place in her heart, she was still young and had a whole life in front of her.

But what about that shadowy figure she saw on the night when her mother died...?

Bayley believed her mother whenever she told her that monsters didn't exist. There was no way they could possibly exist, they only appeared in scary stories and horror movies. Bayley was still a child, it was very likely she could've just imagined it. She had a very vivid imagination when she was young; she enjoyed playing outside in her backyard or in the woods behind her house with the other children, pretending to have escaped the clutches from a children-eating giant. It sounded silly, but back then, Bayley and her friends absolutely loved it. One child had to play the giant, who had to go search for the 'victims' who were hiding in the bushes, up in the trees or behind a little hill. Besides, Bayley also had a really bad fever that night, and combined with her childish imagination, it was very likely that the 'shadowy figure' was yet another product of her imagination.

Monsters didn't exist.

A few years after graduating from high school and working three part-time jobs, Bayley finally was able to have a place for her own. Immediately after taking a look at the apartment in the big city, the young woman knew she wanted to live here. It had a lot of space and she had a good view on the beach from the balcony; it was perfect! However, there was only room for one person to live in the apartment, but she didn't mind it. The job she had was enough to pay the monthly rent, so money was not exactly a problem. Bayley still had good contact with her family, she had made a couple of friends while living in the city and had a comfortable home.

Bayley had the best life a young woman could ever wish for.

Too bad there wasn't anything too interesting to watch on TV. Bayley zapped from channel to channel, but it was one of those times where there was nothing good that caught her eye. She only had dinner an hour ago and she didn't have any other plans for tonight; Bayley hoped this night wouldn't become boring.

Suddenly, the ringtone of her cell phone made her snap out of her boredom. Checking the screen, Bayley recognized the phone number of her best friend Alexa. She picked up and pressed the cell phone against her ear.

'Hey, what's up?' she asked.

'Hi Bayley!' Alexa answered on the other side of the line. 'Do you have any plans for tonight?'

'Um, well... no, why?'

'A new bar has opened this week, so I wondered if you wanted to come along with me to have some fun!'

Bayley couldn't help but softly chuckle about this. Yup, that was Alexa alright. One day when Bayley went to work out in the local gym, Alexa joined her on the treadmill next to her. They had a little pleasant chat with each other and after that moment, the two girls became best friends. Alexa had a lot of things in common with Bayley, but she only had one interest that Bayley didn't have; going out drinking in bars or clubs every single weekend. Bayley wasn't the kind of girl who would go out every night to drink, she was fine with going out once in a while or so.

And heck, tonight would actually be a nice night to go out with Alexa. It was summer, it wasn't that dark yet and, like her father always said, you have to enjoy life while you are still young.

'Sure!' Bayley replied. 'Where exactly is it?'

'It's not too far away from where you live, it's near that tanning salon.'

'Oh yeah, now that you say it, I might remember it now...'

'By the way, do you mind if I bring someone along with me? It's a guy I met at the gym a while ago, he's really nice, I think you two might get along really well!'

Again, Bayley chuckled. Alexa had always been nagging about the fact that she had been single for months now, which is why she always tried to hook her up with some guy she knew from the gym or a club. But who knows, maybe it could be fun meeting this guy. It was always great to meet new people.

'Sure, bring him along! At what time shall we meet?'

'How about nine o'clock?'

'Is fine with me. Alright, see you later, Glitter Girl!'

'Bye bye, Huglife!'

Bayley would always give Alexa a big hug when they met each other, which is why she gave her that nickname. And since her friend loved wearing clothing with glitter on it, Bayley called her 'Glitter Girl'. Hey, if your friend gives you a cute nickname, you should give one to her as well!

Bayley hung up and got up from the couch. Well, right now she would have enough time to change outfits; nobody with the right mind would go out wearing a slightly oversized 'Adventure Time' t-shirt and blue and pink checkered sweatpants. The young woman went to her bedroom and opened her closet, studying the contents. She was a little bit indecisive at first, but finally managed to pick a nice outfit that would fit perfectly with a night like this. Bayley traded her current outfit for a light brown summer dress with triangle patterns, a black bolero jacket and leather sandals. She brushed her long brown hair, tied it into a pony tail and put on one of her favorite headbands. Throughout her life, Bayley had collected all sorts of headbands; she had always loved them, ever since she was a kid. No matter how old she would become, she would always wear one.

Fifteen minutes later, the young woman left her apartment, closing the front door behind her.

You always have to enjoy life while you can.


	3. Hiding In The Shadows

**Chapter 3**

**Hiding In The Shadows**

A few people looked up in surprise or annoyance when they noticed the young woman running past them as fast as she could.

She thought her lungs were going to explode, they were hurting so much. A trickle of sweat ran down her face, but it wasn't because she wasn't feeling hot due to the running. No, this woman was terrified. Terrified to death, to be exact. She constantly looked behind her, checking if whatever was following her was still after her. Her fearful suspicion must have been confirmed; the young woman let out a startled shriek and ran even faster. Her legs were sore, her heart was about to jump right out of her chest, but she forced herself to keep going. The street wasn't very crowded, there weren't many people, yet none of them were willing to help her.

But hell... would they believe her if she would tell them what was chasing her?

The young woman looked around her, desperately looking for a way to escape from her pursuers. The sun had almost gone completely down, it would soon become dark... making the woman's situation even more dangerous. And if she wouldn't be able to get rid of the evil that was following her... God, she just didn't want to think about it.

On her right, the young woman spotted a narrow alley. If she would run in there, would there be a chance to escape whatever what was coming to her? She decided to give it a shot, there had to be a chance! The young woman jumped into the alley, where she was greeted with the faint smell of garbage. Since the last remaining sunlight of today couldn't reach inside the alley, her surroundings were a bit more darker than the street. But since the young woman was too desperate for seeing the end of this day, she didn't care about that; she only hoped she could escape her pursuers. The walls of the alley were covered in hideous graffiti tags and garbage littered the path in front of her. Once again, the woman looked behind her; much to her horror, she had been wrong.

Behind her, two big shapeless shadows glided over the walls, closing in on her. It were those same shadows that had been haunting her for days, driving her on the edge of her own sanity. And now, it looked like those mysterious shadows were about to give her the final blow... she was convinced of that.

'No!' the young woman screamed at the top of her lungs. Just now, she discovered she had reached a dead end. She slammed with her hands on the wall, as if she thought this was a cruel illusion those strange shadows had created. But no, this was as real as it could get; she was trapped, like an animal in a cage.

Tears of fear flowed down her cheeks as the woman's legs seemed to give up on her. Paralyzed in fear, she fell down on the ground on her behind, realizing that the thing she had feared so much during these last days was inevitable now.

She was going to die.

The shadows had finally reached her, gliding from the walls down to the ground and stopping in front of her. Slowly they grew larger and started to take shape, eventually both of them taking a humanoid form. Judging by their length and body shape, they appeared as two males. The blackness of the shadows faded away, revealing the two 'men' in their true appearance.

Dear God... they weren't human... it was impossible that they were from this world!

The first 'man' was a bit taller than the other one, sporting a mohawk and a goatee. The other one had long black hair, tied in a pony tail. Just like his equally sinister-looking companion, he had a goatee. Both of them were wearing black leather shoulder pads with red trimming, black and red pants and boots with those two same colors. What also made them even more intimidating was the face paint both 'men' had; one upside-down red triangle was painted over each forehead. And to top it off, the taller 'man' had a strange mark painted on the eyelids of his left eye; his companion had that same mark painted on the eyelids of his right eye.

The corners of both 'men's' mouths curled into a devilish grin.

'No... no, please...' the young woman whimpered. 'Go away... leave me alone...'

But the woman's plea only amused the 'men'. This is exactly what they wanted; making her beg for her pathetic life.

'Let's get her up, Konnor.' the slightly smaller 'man' said, his voice filled with sadistic glee.

They roughly grabbed the young woman's shoulder and pulled her back on her feet. She wanted to fight back, she honestly wanted to do that, but she couldn't; she was completely paralyzed in fear. All she could do was begging these two freaks to let her live and cry in fear.

'Oh God, please!' the young woman sobbed. 'Let go of me! Somebody help me! Help me!'

'Nobody can hear you, you little bitch...' Konnor murmured, more than ready for what was going to happen next. 'But don't you worry... it will all be over soon.'

'No... please...'

On that moment, both 'men' opened their mouths at the same time. It was like the woman had no control over her body any longer; just like them, she opened her mouth as well. A thick blue mist was pulled out of her throat, splitting into two and entering the two 'men's' mouths, as if they were sucking it straight out of her. The woman could feel her life flowing out of her, black spots clouding her sight. Her head started to feel lighter and lighter. Her body completely relaxed in the strong grips of the two 'men', like she was giving into her ruin. She was completely powerless... It was just a matter of seconds before all of the blue mist was sucked out of her.

When they finally let go of her, the young woman dropped dead to the ground.

'Damn, that was good, wasn't it Viktor?' Konnor said with a grin, wiping the corner of his mouth.

'Yes, but it's still not enough.'

These two sadists were everything except human. No... they were something completely else.

They were demons.

Using the darkness of the night and the shadows of the city in their advantage, they preyed on specific, young women, striking as much terror in their hearts before mercilessly sucking out their life force. The fear they had due to many days of tormenting and haunting made their life force taste even better, which is why they to chose to do this instead of killing them immediately. This unfortunate woman had become their target; after scaring her as much as they could during the past days, they finally decided to take what was so important to them; her life force. All those women they had terrorized and killed, were pure. They had a kind of innocence that hadn't been touched and that innocence gave their life force more value. 'Consuming' those life forces, they fueled Viktor's and Konnor's strength, making them stronger after every kill. It was hard to find women with that special kind of innocence in this city, but as soon as the two demons found one... they didn't hesitate to make their lives a living hell before taking their life force.

So far, they had shared the life forces of four women. Their strength had increased and they were saving it all up for something big.

Something damn big.

'You're right.' Konnor said. 'This was barely anything, we're gonna need a lot more. Are you up for another hunt?'

Viktor grinned at his friend. 'You're damn right I am.' he replied. 'Let's see if we can find another one tonight.'

'Good plan, Viktor. Let's go.'

The demons transformed back into their shadowy forms, emerging with the darkness around them and leaving the alley... ready to find their next victim.


	4. Nice To Meet You

**Chapter 4**

**Nice To Meet You**

Alexa was right when she told her the new bar wasn't too far away from her home.

In less than fifteen minutes, Bayley walked from her home to the tanning salon, where the bar had been opened next to. From a distance, it didn't look too bad. It was a normal brick building with red neon lights decorating the front window. It looked like more people had heard of the new bar, some of them hanging around outside or already entering. Upon a closer look, Bayley noticed some of those people were wearing fedoras, scarves despite the fact that it was summer and big glasses. Hipsters... was there perhaps an indie band playing in the bar tonight? Among the few people who were standing outside, Bayley spotted a young woman with platinum blonde hair with blue tips talking to a man she had never seen before. Could that be the guy Alexa was talking about earlier on the phone?

'Alexa!' Bayley called out, waving at her best friend.

Alexa looked up, smiled and waved back, glad that her friend showed up. 'Hey, Bayley!'

Bayley walked towards Alexa and immediately pulled her in for one of her well-known hugs. She managed to lift her friend up a little bit, making her laugh. 'For goodness' sake, Bayley! You don't know your own strength!' she laughed. 'Sorry, I just had to do that!' Bayley answered with a big grin, putting her down.

'Hi, you must be Bayley!' The man walked towards Bayley and gave her a firm handshake. 'Alexa had been talking a lot about you. My name is Sami!'

From up close, Bayley managed to get a better look at Sami. At first sight, he looked like a pretty friendly guy. He had short red hair and sporting a short beard, his outfit didn't quite match the clothes most of the bar's guests were wearing; a t-shirt with the name of a punk band and a pair of ripped jeans. Bayley could see he liked to work out in the gym, judging by his muscled arms. But friendly looks or not, she still had to see what kind of guy Sami actually was. There were times where Alexa tried to hook her up with guys who were rude, arrogant or just not Bayley's type. And if he turned out not to be her knight in shining armor, well, she wouldn't be afraid to turn him down. What was the point of being interested in somebody if that person just didn't appeal to you? Yes, Bayley may have been a sweet and bubbly girl, but she was quite picky when it came to dating boys.

'Come on, let's go chat inside.' Alexa said. 'It's getting frisky here!'

The sun had set and the temperature already began dropping; Bayley started to regret not bringing a jacket along with her. She and Sami followed Alexa inside.

Entering the bar, Bayley took a look around her. The place actually looked quite cozy, much to her surprise. Framed vintage posters decorated the brick walls, rock music could be heard from the speakers in the corners of the ceiling. There was a small stage, big enough for a set of drums, two guitars and a microphone on a stand. So perhaps there was a band going to play there after all. It wasn't crowded in a suffocating way, no, it was crowded in a good way. Not too many people, not too less either. Who knows, maybe Bayley would return to this place more times in the future.

The three of them sat down at one of the many tables in the bar; talking with each while sitting at the bar was not a pleasant way to make contact with your friends.

'This place looks nice!' Bayley said while checking out the framed posters around her. 'How did you know about this place, Alexa?'

'Oh, a girl who works out at the gym told me she got a new job at this place. She also told me there was an indie band going to play tonight, so I thought you might've been interested. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that on the phone...'

Ah, so that explained all those hipsters visiting this place.

'It's alright, I felt like going out anyway.' Bayley replied with a smile.

'Hey, you girls feel like having a drink?' Sami asked. 'I can go fetch some if you want to.'

'No no no, it's okay!' Alexa said. 'You sit down, I will go get the drinks. I'm going to get a margarita, what do you guys want?'

'I'd like a beer, please.'

'If they have a cola, its fine with me!' Bayley had never been too interested in drinking alcohol, she would only do that rarely.

'Alright, I'll be back in a second.' Alexa got up from her seat, turned around and walked to the bar to order their drinks. Bayley knew she was doing this on purpose, so she could be alone with Sami to strike up a conversation with him. Yup, that was typically Alexa.

'So...' Bayley decided to give it a shot. Who knows, maybe this could turn out good. 'You said earlier that Alexa had told you a lot about me... what did she exactly say?'

'Well...' Sami chuckled, as if he was being shy. 'She said that you were a really nice person and that we might get along great!'

Bayley couldn't help but laugh; of course Alexa would say something like that, she would say that to every guy she tried to hook Bayley up with.

'I remember her saying that she met you in the gym... That's weird, because I have never seen you there before.'

'That could be true.' Sami nodded. 'You see, two days ago I started working there as an instructor.'

'Oh really? That's pretty cool!'

'Thanks!' So far, the conversation was going well. Sami noticed he enjoyed talking with this young woman, Alexa was right when she said that she was a nice person. 'Yeah, I pretty much needed this job... and this was the only job that really caught my eye among the many crappy ones.'

'You must have been really lucky, then. But do you mean you are broke?' Oops, wrong question. Bayley could feel her blood rushing to her cheeks. Jeez, she must look so stupid right now...

But much to her surprise, Sami laughed about her question. It wasn't in a mocking way, more in an amused way.

'Well, you could pretty much say that. I don't want to brag, but during this year, I have been traveling around the world.'

'Really?' Bayley blinked her eyes in surprise. Traveling was one of the things that interested her, she always loved to see new places. 'That's awesome! Where did you go to?'

'I have been hiking in Canada, looking at some fine art in France, eating a pizza in Italy, surfing in Spain, visiting a festival in India and clubbing in the bars of England. So yes, I have been traveling quite a lot!'

'Wow...!' He had seen so many countries, experienced so many things... Bayley wished she would be able to do that as well one day, if she had the money for it. 'And how did you travel? Did you go by car or plane?'

'Sometimes I went by plane, other times I went by hitchhiking. That was quite tricky, but in most cases it went smoothly. After I came back from England, I decided to take a break from all the traveling and settle down here in this city.'

'Dang Sami, you are quite the free bird!'

The redhead smiled and nodded. Yup, she was quite right about that; ever since Sami could remember, he always had the desire to see other places around the world. After working his butt off for many years, he didn't hesitate for a second to pack his suitcase and travel to as many countries as possible. But now, it kind of felt good to settle down for a while. Who knows, maybe with this job he could be able to see more countries in the future.

'But enough about me, I'd also really like to know more about you.'

'Me?' Bayley chuckled. 'Well... there is nothing much to tell about me, actually. I live in an apartment with a view on the beach, enjoy playing video games and collecting headbands and I work in a fashion store that sells shirt for video game fanatics.'

'You mean that store in the mall? Man, that's awesome! I love that store! What games do you like to play?'

'I like to play all kinds of games, but RPGs will always be my favorite!'

Holy crap, talking to this guy was amazing! Sami was so much different than those other guys, which is what made him so special. Bayley had to thank Alexa for inviting her to come with her, because right now she was having a blast!

Sami had so much fun talking to her, he had never met a girl like her before. Not only was she nice, she was actually interested in what he had to say. When he talked about his traveling to other girls, they couldn't care less about it; they were only interested in his looks, which was a pretty shallow trait in Sami's eyes. But Bayley... Bayley was different.

But before the redhead could say another word, Alexa walked up to their table and put their drinks on the table top.

'Sorry I'm late!' the young woman said. 'It was so freaking crowded at the bar, it took forever to get the drinks!'

The three enjoyed their drinks, taking small sips and chatting like there was no tomorrow. It was like Bayley had known Sami for years, talking to him was so nice. They cracked jokes and shared a good laugh; the three friends had a great time.

Suddenly, the rock music was cut off and the sound of people clapping their hands and cheering filled the bar.

'Oh, the band must be starting!' Alexa exclaimed. 'Let's go check it out!'

They got up from their seats and walked towards the stage, where a crowd of visitors had already gathered together. The band members settled down on their places, except for the vocalist, who decided to remain standing. As soon as the first tunes of the guitar were heard, everyone fell silent, enjoying the music.

So far, Bayley, Sami and Alexa were having a great night.


	5. Target In Sight

**Chapter 5**

**Target In Sight**

Time flies when you're having fun, and Bayley soon noticed that. The band was great, she really enjoyed listening to their songs. After they were done playing, they managed to sell a couple of their CDs to the crowd; Bayley decided to get one as well. But what made this whole night even better was the fact that she had some really nice company with her to enjoy this music. Sami and Alexa seemed to like the band as well, they cheered and clapped along with the people after a song ended. By the time the band had ran out of songs to play, it was already way past midnight.

People exited the bar after the bartender announced they were about to close. Some of them immediately went home, others remained near the bar to hang out a little bit longer. During the band's performance, Alexa went back to the bar multiple times to fetch some more drinks for her friends, but she couldn't help but ordering a new margarita for herself every single time. She always did then when she and Bayley were going out; there was always time for a margarita for Alexa. And right now, the alcohol in the drinks were starting to affect her. Alexa was more giggly than usual, often burst into fits of laughter for no real reason and Sami managed to catch her just in time when she tripped over her own feet. She would almost always end up like this at the end of the night; if there were margaritas available, Alexa would drink them until she had enough. Tomorrow she would be waking up with a big hangover, that was for sure.

'What did you think of the band?' Bayley asked Sami when they exited the bar.

'I thought it was pretty nice.' the redhead answered. 'But... I wouldn't buy a CD from them, to be honest.'

'Seriously, Sami?!' Alexa burst into laughter. 'I thought they were awesome!'

Bayley saw the strange look Sami was giving to her friend. 'Don't worry.' she reassured him. 'She almost always ends up tipsy when she goes out.'

'Oh... I see...'

Suddenly, Bayley started to feel a bit sorry for Sami, it must've been so awkward for him right now. What if he was regretting the decision of coming with Alexa to the bar now that he is seeing her like this? It was most likely if Alexa would ask him to go out with her next time, that he would say no. That would be such a shame... Bayley would love to have a conversation like the one they had a few hours ago with him again. Sami was a really nice guy, she would like to hang out more with him.

'Hey...' As if he could read her thoughts, Sami winked reassuringly at Bayley. 'It was awesome hanging out with you girls. it was really nice to talk with you, seriously. We have to speak more often... do you want my phone number?'

Bayley smiled from ear to ear. 'Sure! You want mine too?'

'Ooooh snap!' Alexa giggled. 'Is this what I think it is... is Bayley finally gonna get a boyfriend?!'

Bayley rolled with her eyes and chuckled. 'For goodness' sake, Alexa...'

And thus, she and the redhead traded phone numbers. Bayley could already imagine herself texting with him in the middle of the night, talking about the countries Sami had traveled to and maybe about video games as well.

'Do you want me to bring you home?' Sami asked after they exchanged their numbers. 'It's pretty late, I don't want you to walk alone all on your own.'

'That's very sweet of you, but no thanks.' Bayley shook her head. 'I always punch a couple of punching bags when I'm in the gym, so if some creep dares to jump out of the bushes...' She threw some fake punches in the air with a grin on her face. 'He will go down in no time!'

Sami chuckled, amused by the fake punches. 'Good to hear. Remember you have my phone number now, so if there's something wrong, you can always call me.'

'Thanks Sami. Maybe it's better if you'd bring Alexa home.'

The redhead nodded. She got a point in that; a drunk young woman was more vulnerable than a sober one. 'Alright, I will speak to you soon then!'

'Awesome! See ya!'

Bayley never hugged the guys Alexa tried to hook her up with, but Sami... he was an exception. She hugged him like they have known each other for years. Holy crap, even hugging him was fun! Sami chuckled as he hugged Bayley back. Yup, she was quite different than the other girls alright.

'Be careful, okay?'

'I will, don't worry!' Bayley replied after she let go of him. 'Alexa, I'm going now. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

'Bye, Huglife!'

'Bye bye, Glitter Girl!'

* * *

'Ugh, damn it!'

They had been searching around for hours, but they still couldn't find a proper prey. Viktor and Konnor did see a few young women passing by a couple of times, but not a single one of them had that special kind of innocence. Using the darkness of the night as their cover, the demons had been searching almost half of the city, without avail. As the minutes ticked by, Konnor and Viktor started to become more frustrated. Was it possible that they already killed all the specific women that lived in this city? No, that was ridiculous. But then again, it was quite hard to find those kind of women these days... The demons had controlled their frustration for a long time, but now, while they were taking a short break in an alley, it started to come out.

Konnor kicked a trash can, leaving a big dent in it. 'How is it possible we still haven't found a new target yet?!' he shouted angrily. 'How hard is it to find a new one in this goddamn city?!'

'Could you keep it down?' Viktor hissed, trying to keep his cool. 'Someone might hear us, you idiot!'

'I'm running out of patience, Viktor. I want all that power now, the sooner we will be able to-'

'Sssh!'

At last, after all those hours, Viktor could finally sense something. And it was close... very close. Konnor halted his rant immediately. 'What?' he asked. 'You got something?' Just then, the demon could sense the same thing his companion did. He curled the corners of his mouth into a grin. Finally, it was about time...

The two demons heard footsteps coming closer, the sense of that special kind of innocence became stronger and stronger by the second. They transformed into their shadowy form and merged with the darkness in the alley, making sure they wouldn't be seen. They watched as a young woman with her hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a light brown dress and black bolero jacket walked past the alley. They could see what normal humans couldn't see; a white aura shined brightly around her, confirming that she had that kind of innocence that was so important to Viktor and Konnor. If they would be in their 'human' forms right now, they would be grinning from ear to ear.

Perfect.

This woman right here was going to be their next victim.

The two demons already looked forward to make her life a living hell before killing her for her precious life force. Perhaps her life force would be enough for them to achieve that right amount of strength...

When they would find a victim, the first thing Konnor and Viktor would do is finding out where she lived. A home is a place where you are supposed to feel safe... but would you feel safe if two demons returned their every night to strike as much fear into your heart as much as possible? Sometimes it could be quite entertaining for Viktor and Konnor to watch their victim mentally break due to the fear; some would snap within a month, others within a few days.

The chase was on. Slowly gliding over the walls of the buildings the young woman was passing by, the two demons stalked her with the cunningness of a wild animal. She had no idea she was being followed, the only thing that was on her mind right now was getting home as fast as possible. She didn't turn around once, Viktor and Konnor didn't produce a single sound while their shadowy bodies glided over their surroundings.

It looked like the woman hadn't been far away from her home. After five minutes, she entered a huge apartment complex on her right. Closed doors had never stopped the two demons; with ease, their thin, shadowy bodies glided underneath the slit of the closed door of the apartment complex. Their victim took the stairs, perhaps her apartment was on the lower floors. Even when she was walking on the stairs, she still hadn't noticed the two shadows on the walls, following every single step of her. On the third floor, she turned left, walked through the corridor and finally reached her apartment. From a distance, Viktor and Konnor watched as she entered her apartment, closing the door behind her. After they got closer to her door, they transformed back into their 'human' forms.

'Well, Konnor...' Viktor whispered, grinned at his companion. 'I think we will be busy again for the next couple of days.'

From the name tag next to the door, the demons learned about their new victim's name.

Her name was Bayley Martinez.

Tomorrow, her life would never be the same again.


	6. First Incident

**Chapter 6**

**First Incident**

Bayley was immediately wide awake when she checked the time on her alarm clock in the morning. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, holy moly!

This would happen most of the time if she would stay out late at night. When she came home last night, she was sound asleep within seconds; she only noticed how tired she actually was once she was inside her apartment.

Well, looked like it was going to be one of those short days again... Bayley let out a yawn and got out of her bed. Her plush dog, the toy she had kept throughout her entire life, was lying on the ground. It probably fell out of bed last night; there wouldn't be a single night where Bayley wouldn't sleep with the stuffed animal clenched against her. In the kitchen, she poured herself a hot cup of coffee and prepared a bowl of cereal. While eating her breakfast, Bayley stared through the window. It was almost afternoon and the city was already full of life. She could hear a car honking in the distance now and then, somebody shouted something and Bayley could hear a bus pulling over close to the apartment complex. But all those sounds didn't ruin the great view she had on the beach in the distance. It was a cloudy day, so not many people would visit the beach unless it was for a walk or to think about life. Who knows, maybe the sun could come through the thick light grey clouds later on this day.

It was quiet in the apartment, so maybe Bayley could play the CD she had bought at the bar last night. She put the CD into the player, pressed the play button and within a second, she heard the music she had listened to last night with much joy once again. Luckily the music sounded just as good when it was recorded. The apartment now had an even better, peaceful atmosphere. Bayley had lived alone here from the very beginning, but she never really minded it. She didn't feel like getting a boyfriend right away to live together, there was no need to rush things. No, Bayley was perfectly happy like this.

Today was a Sunday, so she had nothing to do for today. Tomorrow she had to go back to work, so Bayley wanted to spend the last day of the weekend doing something fun. But what? After a short time of thinking, she had an idea. If Alexa didn't have a hangover anymore during the afternoon, perhaps she could take her out shopping! Bayley decided to wait for a little while, since she wasn't sure if her friend was already awake or not.

Bayley spend the next three hours on her laptop, checking out cat videos on the Internet which make her giggle uncontrollably. Too bad the landlord didn't allow pets inside the apartments, or else she would've gotten a kitty or maybe a puppy by a long time. At two o'clock, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Alexa's number.

'Hello?' Judging by her voice, Bayley could sense that Alexa was still recovering from her hangover.

'Hey Al, it's me!' she replied. 'How's your head, is it hurting?'

'Well... it's a bit sore, but I can take it.'

'You really should cut down a bit on the margaritas, you know.' Bayley suggested jokingly.

'But they are so delicious, Bayley!'

Of course she was going to say something like that... Bayley chuckled. That was so Alexa.

'Either way... I was wondering if you wanting to go shopping with me this afternoon. You think you're up for that?'

'Sure! I think I got over the worst part of the hangover, so yeah, I think I'm good to go.'

'Alright, that's great! So I will meet you at the mall in an hour?'

'Fine with me!'

'Oh, one more thing... do you think Sami is able to come with us as well?'

'Hmmm, I'm not sure about that. I can ask him if you want to!'

'Awesome, thanks! See you an hour, Glitter Girl!'

'See ya, Huglife!'

Little did Bayley know what was following her when she left her apartment...

* * *

It was hard to find a parking spot at the mall, but to Bayley's luck, she found a spot and parked her car. She spotted Alexa at the entrance of the mall, but to her slight disappointment, Sami wasn't there with her.

'Hey, what's up?' she asked when sharing a hug with Alexa. 'Couldn't Sami make it?'

'No, he couldn't.' Alexa shook her head. 'I asked him to come along, but he was already surfing at the beach with his buddies.'

'Oh, I see...'

'But why did you ask me if he could come with us? Do you like him, Bayley?' Alexa grinned.

'Oh come on, Al!' Bayley chuckled. 'He's a nice guy, that's all!'

'Don't deny it, girl! You two were having such a good time last night, so sparks must've been flying for sure!'

'Alexa!' Bayley playfully pushed her friend, who replied with laughter.

'I was only kidding, Huglife! Come on, let's go have some fun!'

Just as every single weekend in this city, the mall was crowded with people from all ages. Occasionally a spoilt brat could be heard screeching in the distance, crying either about a toy that was denied or a mother who was checking out the shoe store for too long. A guitarist sat down in front of a fast food restaurant, hoping he could make enough money with his music just in time before the mall's security would kick him out. People checked out the windows of the many stores, many entered the stores and most of them would leave them with full shopping bags. Bayley loved going to the mall with Alexa, they would almost always leave with bags full of clothes at the end of the day. The two young women chatted like there was no tomorrow while they were walking through the mall. At a small ice cream stand, they enjoyed their two ice creams. The stores they enjoyed visiting the most were the fashion stores, they would always have a new collection every couple of weeks.

After they finished eating their ice creams, Bayley and Alexa entered the biggest fashion store there was in this mall, it was so big they had an elevator to go from floor to floor. And of course, the store was crowded with people, mostly girls and young women who dragged their unfortunate boyfriends with them to go on a fashion shopping spree. Alexa and Bayley searched for clothes that matches their tastes the best; Alexa looked for clothes with glitters or made from golden or silver fabric, Bayley searched the clothes racks for more colorful clothes or shirts with prints of cartoon characters on them. She had always been a sucker for them, it was just who she was.

After the two young women picked their pieces of clothing, they went to the fitting rooms to check if they did indeed look good on them. They had to wait for a long time though, since all of the fitting rooms were occupied and there were already a lot of people waiting. It took some time, but they eventually got in. And just as they hoped to, their clothes looked great on them. Bayley and Alexa went to the lowest floor; the cash registers were there.

'Oh crap!' Bayley exclaimed when it was her turn to pay for her new clothes.

'What's the matter?' Alexa asked.

'I think I left that legging at the fitting rooms! Hold on, I'll be right back!'

Almost immediately, Bayley heard many annoyed sighs and groans emerging from the people behind her. Great, now they had to wait even longer... Bayley quickly muttered an apology and walked away from the cash register.

She decided to take the elevator, since the fitting rooms were on the third floor and the elevator was pretty quick. Bayley pressed the button for the elevator to go down to the lowest floor. She didn't have to wait long, thankfully. The elevator arrived and the door went open slowly. Much to Bayley's surprise, it was empty. Strange... she expected it to be full of people who had to go down anyway. Bayley stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. The doors closed with a soft click; the elevator was ready to go up.

What happened next gave this nice day a chilling turn...

With a heavy shock, the elevator halted between the first floor and the second floor, nearly making Bayley lose her balance. She could grab the handrail just in time before she fell on the ground. The young woman blinked her eyes in confusion.

What was going on? Why did it stop?

There was complete silence in the elevator, you could only faintly hear the creaks in the shaft. Just then, Bayley realized what had happened; she was stuck. Trapped. Her heartbeat raised when the realization struck her like lighting as she slowly started to panic. Oh God, how was she going to get out of here? Bayley banged with her fists on the doors, losing her cool with every second that passed.

'Hey! Hello?! Somebody help me, I'm stuck!' she yelled. But it was like nobody heard her... there was no response.

Just then, the lights inside the elevator started to flicker. Bayley looked up, her eyes slightly widening in fear.

'Oh no...'

Goosebumps appeared all over Bayley's arms. It could probably take hours before they noticed there was something wrong with the elevator and during all that time, she would be trapped here in the darkness... And it turned out, Bayley's fear came true. The electricity gave up and within a second, it was pitch black inside the elevator. The young woman tried her best to control her breathing, if she would hyperventilate things would only get worse. There was not a single source of light inside the dark elevator, not even a little light; Bayley couldn't even see her hands in front her eyes. Like a blind person, she searched with her hand over the wall, hoping she could find the alarm button. If she would press it, there would be a chance someone might hear her and get her out of this frightening situation. Right now, that button was Bayley's only hope. Her hand was only a few centimeters away from the buttons...

Suddenly, the elevator came back to motion, slowly going up to the next floor. Bayley let out a relieved sigh. Thank God, someone must have fixed the problem...

But she was all wrong.

When the elevator reached the third floor, it crashed back down to the lowest floor with a rapid speed. Bayley let out a shriek when she lost her balance, falling on the floor with a hard thud. Her heart was beating like a jackhammer, she lost all control over her breathing and her eyes were fully widened in fear. Oh God, what was happening?! She tried to get up, but as soon as she managed to get back on her feet, the elevator traveled back up to the second floor. Bayley couldn't reach the handrail in time, was flung against the wall and fell back on the floor. This was a nightmare... it had to be a nightmare! Here she was, trapped in a dark, malfunctioning elevator, fearing for her life... Was this it? Was this how she was going to die? The thought of dying right here in this elevator caused tears to well up in Bayley's eyes. No... please... she didn't want to die yet!

The elevator mercilessly went up and down, sending Bayley flying everywhere. It was like she was locked up in a can being shaken up and down by a giant. The only thing the poor woman could do was hope that somebody would stop the elevator and that she would be able to see the end of the day. Clenching her eyes shut, she wished for it to be all over...

But just as sudden as she was thrown into this nightmarish situation, as sudden the elevator stopped on the lower floor, seemingly ending this wild ride. A thin beam of light expanded inside the elevator as the doors slowly opened, making Bayley look up. Outside, a group of people had gathered to see what was the ruckus; shocked murmuring could be heard everywhere. The young woman looked around her, searching for a familiar face in the crowd. And she found one.

'A-A-Alexa!'

Bayley managed to get up despite the fact that her legs were trembling like crazy now and rushed towards her friend, who was standing in front of the group of shocked people, practically running into her arms.

'Oh God, Bayley! Are you alright?' she asked with a worried voice when she put her arms around her. While she was waiting for her to return at the cash register, Alexa, along with other people, heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the elevator in the distance and went to check it out. Little did she know that her friend was trapped in there, fearing for her life.

Bayley's skin had turned completely pale. She trembled like a leaf, tears flowing down her face as she sobbed hysterically.

Meanwhile, inside the dark elevator shaft, two big shadows traveled up the metal walls. Two male voices softly chuckling in a sinister way could be faintly heard...


	7. Are You Scared Yet?

**Chapter 7**

**Are You Scared Yet?**

'Do you think you can drive home by yourself, Bayley? I can bring you home if you want to...'

'No no, it's alright. I can do it, thanks.'

Outside at the entrance of the mall, Bayley was still pretty shaken up about what happened in the fashion store. It took half an hour for her to calm down, luckily Alexa managed to stop the hyperventilating and help her control her breathing. The manager of the store entered the scene and offered the young woman a glass of water, which she drank while her hands were still shaking, spilling a bit of water on her pants. But it helped her to calm down a bit either way. The manager also offered a coupon which she could use to buy something worth twenty dollars in this store with, which made her hesitate for a moment. This didn't feel right at all; she was inside that damn elevator, looking death straight in the eyes, and this guy thought he could patch all of this up with a freaking coupon. Alexa saw the ridiculousness in this and declined the offer, taking Bayley out of the store.

'Are you sure about that? You have been through hell out there, I can imagine you are still spooked out.'

'I am fine, Alexa.' Bayley shook her head. 'I can do this, believe me. My place isn't that far away, I can make it. Besides, I can't leave my car here at the parking lot for a whole night.' Right now, Bayley was a bit more calmer than she was in the fashion store, so she was capable of driving in traffic alone. All she wanted to right now was going home and try to relax; hopefully she could distract herself by playing a video game, she would see what she would do.

'If you say so, girl...' Alexa sighed. 'But remember... if you need anything or want to talk about what happened... you can call me, alright? I always have my cell phone with me, so don't hesitate to call me, okay?'

'Thanks a lot, Alexa.' The two friends shared a hug, but this hug felt somewhat different than the hugs that they would share when they saw each other; it was a comforting hug. And Bayley needed it, a lot.

'See you soon, Glitter Girl.' Bayley said, turning and walking towards her car.

'Bye, Huglife.'

Since it was now time for most stores to close, there was a lot of traffic on the road. The only time Bayley was spooked out was when a car next to her honked multiple times; the driver yelled at the driver in front of him to hurry the hell up. The young woman rubbed her right temple and let out a sigh. God, she couldn't wait to get home as fast as possible. After being stuck in traffic for a little while, she finally got back at the apartment complex and parked her car at the neighboring parking lot, build for the residents of this apartment complex. Inside, the first thing the young woman spotted was the building's elevator. A heavy chill ran up her spine; there was no way in hell she would enter that after what happened today. Bayley decided to take the stairs, that was a whole lot safer. She arrived at the third floor, walked to her apartment's door and opened it. Once she was inside, she closed the door behind her with a soft click.

It was finally over.

Thank God, she was home.

Suddenly, Bayley felt like she hadn't slept for two days. Her eyes felt heavy, her legs were sore. The young woman was pretty sure bruises would soon emerge on her body, caused by all the times she fell and flung against the walls inside the elevator. What she needed right now was to lie down. As soon as she reached her couch, Bayley let herself fall on top of it with a soft thud.

Staring at the ceiling, she let out a sigh. This had to be one of the scariest days of her life... Bayley remembered the last time she was this terrified; it was two years after her mother died. Bayley was nine years old and visited a popular theme park with her father. She had the time of her life, until she was distracted by somebody who was dressed as the theme park's mascot. Little Bayley and many other kids swarmed around the mascot, cheering him on as if he was God himself. But when Bayley turned around, she couldn't see her father anywhere... The crowd was huge, but none of those people passing by her were her father. The little girl went into a panic frenzy, screaming for her daddy at the top of her lungs while tears ran down her face. But nobody in the crowd responded... Bayley could already imagine herself going through life without her father, rendering her an orphan; that thought caused her to panic even more. But luckily, after a staff member of the theme park found her and her name was announced through the speakers, Bayley's father picked her up at the spot set up for children who lost their parents and the two were reunited.

That had to be the scariest day in any child's life... but this day took the crown. She nearly lost her life today, something that made this day more scarier than that day.

Bayley closed her eyes, trying to relax. She just wanted this day to be over...

She almost dozed off when she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. The young woman woke up, picked the phone out of her pocket and checked the screen. It looked like she got a text; Bayley almost immediately recognized the phone number. It was Sami! Bayley touched the screen and read the text.

_'Hey Bayley, Alexa just told me what had happened over there at the mall. Jesus, I hope you are alright, I really hope so. Man, now I feel like such a douchebag for not coming along with you girls, if I had known something like this would happen, I would've been there to help you for sure. Out of all people, it had to happen to you... it sucks, it really sucks. If you feel like it, we can talk, okay? Sami'_

Despite everything what happened today, Bayley managed to smile. That was such a sweet thing from him to say. He cared about her... they only knew each other for a day, and yet he cared about her. And he even felt guilty about not coming with them... But of course it wasn't Sami fault, nobody could've seen this coming. Sitting up, Bayley typed a reply.

_'Hello Sami. Thank you for this nice text, it made feel a lot better :) Please don't feel guilty about that, it's nobody's fault. Everything is fine now, right now I'm trying to just get my mind off from it. Thanks a lot for caring about me, I really appreciate it. Hopefully we can talk again soon! :) Bayley'_

The young woman giggled like a little school girl when she put her cell phone on top of the coffee table in front of her. That was such a nice thing from Sami to do... sweet, even. Back when Bayley was in high school, she did date a couple of boys during that time. But whenever she felt miserable about something, not one of them was willing to send a comforting text, let alone comfort her in person. It was harsh, but at least Bayley learned from these rather loveless relationships; she knew what kind of boys she wanted to date, now that she was a young adult.

And Sami... he was a lot different than those boys.

It didn't last long before her cell phone vibrated once again. With a warm feeling slowly developing in her stomach, Bayley picked it up, eager to read another sweet text from Sami. But the warm feeling vanished into thin air when she read the following words.

_'Are you scared yet?'_

The smile disappeared immediately from Bayley's face. A sickening feeling developed in her stomach as a heavy chill ran up her spine. What... what the hell was this? This couldn't be Sami! There was not even a number showed on the screen, it were just a few dead pixels on the bar where the number is supposed to show. No number, no name... how was this possible? Bayley knew this thought sounded paranoid, but... was this somehow connected to the malfunctioning elevator? No, that was crazy, it couldn't be! Bayley could feel her hands trembling, she was that nervous. But it wasn't over just yet; just a few seconds later, she received another text. With dead pixels as a 'number'.

_'You should be.'_


	8. Night Terror

**Chapter 8**

**Night Terror**

It surprised Bayley that she even managed to get some sleep that night.

So many freaky stuff happened this day, it was just so surreal. First the malfunctioning elevator, then those strange texts... Just thinking about those texts was enough to make Bayley's skin crawl. It was like as if whoever send them knew about what had happened at the mall. She didn't want to sound paranoid, but... was this all connected, somehow? This thought kept Bayley awake most of the night. She tossed and turned, closed her eyes in the hope of getting some sleep, but the paranoia kept her awake. She knew it wasn't healthy to think like that, but she couldn't help it. Yes, she was terrified to death when she was trapped in that elevator, that was for sure. And that person must've known that. Was it possibly someone who had visited that store? But Bayley was pretty sure she hadn't given her phone number to anybody over there, the last time she did that... was when she met Sami.

Was it Sami who send her those texts...?

Bayley didn't want to believe it, but there was a chance she had to. Sami was the only new person she had met these last months. It's so easy to trust somebody who acts super nice to you these days...

But then again, if someone would send you a text anonymously, the word 'anonymous' would be shown, right? But that word didn't even appear, only a few dead pixels. Bayley did try to call that 'number', but it was no use; it was impossible to trace back that person. The words in those texts, they were so threatening... taunting, even. The elevator, the texts, Sami... it all made Bayley's head feel like spinning. After hours of tossing and turning, she finally managed to fall into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, the young woman felt like she could sleep for a thousand more hours. Praise the man who invented coffee, because she needed it a lot right now. Sitting on the couch and sipping from her mug of coffee, Bayley checked if she had received something on her cell phone; thank God, she hadn't gotten any more of those strange texts. She had two hours left before going to work, she was glad she managed to get up in time. It was most likely that Alexa and Sami were already off to work, so it wouldn't be the right time to call or text them now. Bayley turned on the TV, prepared a bowl of cereal and sat back down on the couch. She watched some cartoons while eating her breakfast, which helped her to get her mind off from all those strange things that happened yesterday. Bayley had always loved cartoons, ever since she was a kid.

Two hours later, it was time for her to go to her work. She drove to the mall, luckily traffic wasn't too bad this morning. Once she was inside, she avoided all elevators at all costs and always took the stairs; she wasn't sure whether she would ever enter one again.

Working in the store for the next few hours made her collect her common sense again and the paranoia she had felt last night faded away. There must have been a logical explanation for this, there was no way the incident with the elevator and the texts could ever be connected. It was just pure coincidence, that had to be it. Maybe those texts were the work of a prankster, that was very likely. And the pixels, maybe they were just a little malfunction from the cell phone itself. Those conclusions made Bayley feel a lot more calmer. Life was full of coincidences, so it had to be it.

There was no connection, just coincidence. Case closed.

Until it was time for the store to close, Bayley did her work with a whole lot of calmness. Yesterday had been a stressful day, but today was a whole lot better. Tonight she would sleep with ease.

For as long as that would last.

* * *

'So, how you're holding up?' Alexa asked.

'Well... I do feel more relaxed now, can't say I'm feeling anxious or anything.'

The two best friends were talking with each other through Skype that night. Bayley had just finished eating dinner when she heard the well-known ringtone coming from her laptop. Accepting the call, she was immediately greeted by Alexa before her webcam was even turned on.

'Are you serious?' she asked. 'Man, I would be freaked out for days if something like that would happen to me...'

'I'm trying not to think about it too much.' Bayley replied. 'It might take a while, but I will get over it, trust me. It just will take some time.'

'I understand. I wanted to know if you were doing fine.'

'Thanks Alexa, I really appreciate it.'

'You're welcome, dear. But hey, let's change the subject now, I don't want you to be constantly reminded of that shitty day. Guess who I saw at the gym today?'

Bayley smiled playfully. She could easily guess who Alexa met; something told her that that person had red hair and a short beard.

'Well jeez, I don't have a freaking clue, let me think... Hmmm, what was his name again? Could it be... Sami?'

'Ding ding ding! You have answered the million dollar question correctly, Ms. Martinez!' Alexa cheered.

'Yay! Now do I get a million dollars?'

'Sorry, if I would have that much money I would give it to you. He was asking about you all the time, you were practically the only thing he talked about!'

Wow... was this true? Bayley could feel her cheeks slightly coloring red. So he was really worried about her! Dang, they really had to see each other again, Bayley noticed she already looked forward to it.

'Oooh, what do I see there?' Alexa asked jokingly. 'Do I see a smile? Are those red cheeks? I think somebody here is in love!'

'Oh come on, Alexa!' Bayley laughed. 'Sami's a nice guy, but that doesn't mean I have a freaking crush on him!'

'You will see Bayley, one day you're gonna swallow your own words!'

'We'll just see about that, missy...'

'I'm going to be right, I'm telling you!'

'But anyway... I think I'm going to bed a bit earlier today, I barely had any sleep plus I had a really busy day.'

'Okay then, get some rest, you really need it. Sleep tight, Huglife!'

'Don't let the bed bugs bite, Glitter Girl!'

Bayley clicked the red button and the call was over. She turned off the laptop. Letting out a soft yawn, she got up from the couch. After doing the dishes, she walked towards her bedroom. The few hours of sleep she had combined with all the hard work in the store really tired her out. Bayley traded her casual outfit for her comfortable pajamas, brushed her teeth and climbed into her bed.

Holy moly... so Sami had been talking about her! Bayley bit her lower lip and giggled. Oh my gosh, that was crazy. Tomorrow Bayley would have a day off, so maybe they could see each other. She knew a nice coffee shop in the city, perhaps they could have a cup of coffee over there. Shutting off the little lamp on her night stand, Bayley looked forward to tomorrow.

She closed her eyes, preparing herself for a night with peaceful sleep.

* * *

Roughly four hours later, Bayley was woken up by the loud sound of a door slamming shut.

She sat up in bed, wide awake and looking around her in shock. She reached over to the night stand and turned on the light. What the hell? It sounded like it was coming straight from the living room... Goosebumps appeared all over Bayley's arms. Oh God, were there burglars in the apartment?! Bayley hid herself underneath the sheets, almost trembling in fear. Trying her best to control her breathing, Bayley listened to the eerie silence that followed after that sound, hoping the 'burglars' wouldn't burst into the bedroom and drag her out of bed. She didn't hear any voices, any footsteps... were they gone? Gathering all the courage she had, the young woman forced herself to get out of her bed and tiptoe her way to the door. Whenever she would visit the gym, she would always practice with the punching bags; after a little while, she had learned how to perfectly deliver the basic punches. And hell, even if they dared to lay a finger on her, Bayley wouldn't be afraid to fight for her life if she had to. She was a strong, independent woman; she would fight with all the strength she had.

She slowly opened the door, peeking into the darkness of her apartment. There was not a single sound, it was completely quiet, which unsettled Bayley even more. She could've sworn that sound was coming from inside the apartment, there was no way it could be coming from outside. She had to find the light switch, she couldn't see a damn thing. Bayley stepped outside her bedroom; she knew exactly where that light switch was, it was right near her couch.

Right on that moment, the bedroom door behind her shut out of itself with a loud bang. Bayley let out a shriek and jumped, nearly tripping over her own feet. Her heartbeat doubled, it became harder for her to control her breathing.

'Who is there?!' she called out. 'Get out, or else I will call the police!'

She rushed to the light switch and switched it on. With her eyes widened in fear, Bayley looked around her, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was in her apartment now. But there was nothing... A trickle of sweat ran down Bayley's cheek. What the hell was going on here...?!

Just then, two men could be heard chuckling darkly.

'Get out of my apartment! Right now!' Bayley's voice was almost trembling. She looked around her, but she couldn't see anybody.

What she saw next, made her freeze in horror.

Two big, shapeless shadows slowly glided over the walls, circling Bayley like sharks. All the terrified woman could do was follow those strange shadows' movements with her eyes, it felt like her legs had been glued stuck to the ground. The shadows were taking their time, as if they were studying her. She wanted to scream for help, but couldn't produce a single sound. What were only seconds passing, felt like centuries to Bayley.

And just like in the elevator, the power in the apartment fell out in the blink of an eye.

Oh God.

With a demonic growl, the shadows charged towards Bayley, who let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell on the ground. Curling up in a fetus position, she thought it was all over for her... but nothing happened. She didn't feel any pain, no touch, nothing. Trying to catch her breath, Bayley carefully looked up. Miraculously, the power had returned and the apartment was lightened up once again. The shadows were gone... but how?

Sitting up, Bayley finally managed to catch her breath, although her breathing was very shaky at this point. Her limbs were trembling, she could feel her heart pounding in her head.

Oh God... what the hell were those things?!


	9. There Is No Escape

**Chapter 9**

**There Is No Escape**

She had checked every spot in her apartment, from the front door to the balcony, searching for anything that could say something about whatever the hell had entered the apartment last night, but Bayley couldn't find a single clue. Everything was still in its place, nothing had been moved or stolen. There wasn't any damage on the door, not even a scratch. And there weren't any traces of a burglary on the balcony either... then how the hell did those things get inside?! It made Bayley's head feel like exploding, it all didn't make sense!

She had little to no sleep after what happened last night, she was too scared to do that. With the lights on in her bedroom, Bayley had hidden underneath her sheets, expecting those strange shadows to return and attack her once more. The smallest noise, like a car passing by the apartment complex, could make her sit up with adrenaline rushing through her veins. Only when the first early sunbeam dimly illuminated the city and the birds in the trees near the apartment complex starting tweeting, Bayley finally managed to fall asleep... only to wake up one hour later, unable to catch any more sleep.

Bayley's eyes were stinging with tiredness; no amount of coffee in the world would be able to make her feel better right now. She was terrified out of her mind last night, nothing could take that away. Those shadows weren't normal, shadows wouldn't growl while charging at you! There was nothing in the living room that could create such shadows, it was like they didn't have an owner at all... like they had a life for their own.

Could it be... ghosts?

That word had barely entered her mind and Bayley already shook her head in disbelief. No, that couldn't possibly be it! Ghosts only existed in scary stories, there was no way they could ever exist! She couldn't believe she was even thinking about that, this was crazy! But if those things weren't ghosts... then what were they? Bayley knew what she saw; those shadows were moving out of themselves, they were growling at her and they were coming right at her. This wasn't the imagination she possessed when she was a little girl, this was real. Dear God, there had to be a logical explanation for this... but she couldn't find it. Bayley had searched the Internet like crazy, hoping she could find the right answer; but no matter how many keywords she typed into the Google bar, she couldn't find anything. Bayley buried her face in her hands and shook her head. This was crazy...

What if those things would return again tonight?

That thought made a heavy chill run up the young woman's spine. Last night, it looked like those shadows were taunting her in some way... what were they going to do next? Were they going to hurt her for real this time? Never in her entire life, Bayley had such a strong urge to move. Oh God, she wanted to get out of here, right now! She wanted to pack all her things, get out of the apartment and move to the other side of the world if she had to, as long as those shadows would leave her alone. But then again... where could she go? The first person Bayley immediately thought of was her father. Her father had always been there for her, in good times and bad times. But what if she would tell him what was going on in her apartment... would he be scared? Damn, scaring her father was the last thing Bayley wanted... And besides, would he even believe her? Her father had told her throughout her whole childhood, even during the time they were mourning, that monsters didn't exist. God, Bayley didn't know what to think...

She had to tell this to somebody... Of course! Alexa! She would listen to her, she was her best friend! But there would be a chance she might scare her with this as well... And yet, the possibility of her believing her was there too. Bayley decided to give it a shot.

Maybe it would be better if she would tell all of this to her face to face; after all, this wasn't something you'd just casually talk about over the phone. It was a sunny summer day, perhaps they could meet at the beach; it was one of Bayley's favorite spots to hang out, it could help her calming down a bit. Grabbing her cell phone, the young woman dialed her best friend's number.

'Huglife! How is everything?' Alexa asked cheerfully.

Judging by the faint clanging noises and music Bayley heard on the background, she had to be at the gym. Hearing her friend's voice nearly caused tears to well up in Bayley's eyes, but she controlled herself.

'I'm doing great, thanks. And you?' she replied, trying to sound as happy as possible.

'I'm fine too, guess who is here with me!'

'Don't know, who is it?'

'Hold on, I'll hand the cell phone over to him...'

Him? Then, it became clear to Bayley who that person could possibly be. Despite what happened last night, it felt like her heart made a jump of joy.

''Sup Bayley! Haven't heard you in a while!'

Bayley smiled from ear to ear. She was right; it was Sami!

'Hey, Sami!' she exclaimed happily. 'It's so nice to speak to you again!' Dear God, she could cry like a baby right now.

'Are you feeling any better now?'

Oh man, he should've known... Bayley couldn't bear lying to Sami, he was way too nice for that.

'Actually... there is something I need to talk with you guys about...'

'What is it?'

'I... I don't want to talk about it on the phone. Is it okay if I meet you guys at the beach?'

'Whoa, Bayley...' Apparently, Alexa had overheard the conversation. 'Is that incident still bothering you? Or is it something else you want to talk about?'

'It's something else... Please, can we meet at the beach?'

'If that's what you want, we'll do that. At what time do you want to meet us?'

'Is one o'clock fine with you?'

'Yeah, that's okay, we can make that. We will see you there, then?'

'Yes. Thank you so much, you guys...'

'Anything for you, Huglife. See you soon!'

'Bye...'

And gone were Alexa and Sami. Bayley let out a sigh; at least now she knew Sami was coming along with Alexa. That would make things a bit more better.

She couldn't wait to get out of here.

* * *

Car rides have always soothed Bayley, ever since she was a kid. But right now, it was harder for her to calm down while watching the world around her passing her by.

There were so many things going through her head right now, she barely noticed the signs and traffic lights around her. The malfunctioning elevator, the threatening texts, the taunting shadows... so much weird shit had been happening these last days, it was nerve wracking. What could she have possibly done to deserve all of this? She didn't do anything wrong, she was just having a normal life; she had a job that helped her pay the rent, a nice apartment and great friends.

Bayley hoped she didn't worry them too much when she was speaking with Alexa and Sami on the phone. But at the same time, it would be really nice to be able to tell them what was going on. Sami was going to be there... which made things a bit better. Bayley noticed how much she looked forward to seeing the redhead, ever since they parted ways at the bar that night. It was like they had known each other for years, they got along that good. When she heard from Alexa that she was the only thing he talked about, she felt a warm feeling developing in her stomach. And she knew that feeling very well; it was the feeling of love. But come on, that was nuts! They only had met each other one time, this was something straight out of a freaking Disney movie! Yes, Sami was a really great guy, but love...? No, that was crazy.

The beach was just a few kilometers away from her apartment, just outside the city, so it wouldn't be a very long car ride. Since it was a Tuesday, Bayley thought it wouldn't be very likely the beach was going to be crowded. The road towards the beach barely had any traffic, which pleased her very much. The farther Bayley got away from her apartment, the better for her. She never thought she would ever reach this point; escaping her own home. She had always felt safe in that apartment and now she was trying to get as far away from it as possible.

A sharp turn to the right appeared in the distance; since Bayley was driving at a speed that was a bit too high for that, she decided to slow down. Her foot touched the brake and slowly pressed on it.

Bayley's heart skipped a beat.

What the hell?

It was like the brake was just a loose piece of the car. Bayley had fully pressed on it, but the car wouldn't respond to this. It wouldn't slow down, not even for a bit. The calmness she had felt a little while earlier started to fade away as she pressed the brake over and over again. The car didn't slow down, no matter how many times she would do that. In fact... it felt like it was going faster!

'Oh no...' The young woman was practically stomping the brake at this point. 'No no no no no! Come on, please!'

She had heard so many stories on the news about incidents like this; people driving down a hill or on the highway, only to find out the brakes of their cars weren't responding at all, sending them crashing against the car in front of them or the guardrails. And in most of those stories... those people didn't survive the accidents.

Just then, Bayley noticed her car was just a few meters away from the guardrail at the sharp turn, seconds away from crashing into the metal. Frozen in fear, she watched as she got closer to the guardrail, with her hands clenched around the steering wheel.

'Get out!' a voice screamed in her head. 'Get out of here, damn it!'

If her consciousness had a voice, it had to be that one. It brought back the sensation in her limbs. No... she didn't want to die like this!

Bayley practically ripped the seatbelt off from her, swung open the door and let herself fall out of the car. She hit the asphalt with a painful thud; a patch of skin on her arm touched the asphalt, causing it to scrape open. The young woman rolled over the road for a couple of times before lying still in the grass besides the road. Her body was in a lot of pain, but she had managed to escape, that's what mattered the most to her. She looked up, her body was aching all over.

The car crashed into the guardrail with an ear-deafening impact, sending pieces of scrap metal and broken glass flying everywhere. Bayley covered her face with her arms, protecting herself from being struck. An impact like that would kill any person; the front part of the car wrinkled into a metal mess. Smoke emerged from underneath the hood, gasoline dripped onto the asphalt.

Bayley crawled further away from the wrecked vehicle, afraid it would explode. Just now, she noticed how much her body was trembling. And it wasn't because of the pain.

It was because of the fear.

Along with the drops of gasoline, two thin streams of shadow slithered like snakes from underneath the car. They quickly slithered into the grass near the damaged guardrail, before disappearing into thin air...


	10. Worries

**Chapter 10**

**Worries**

For the fifth time, Sami checked his watch, the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach growing bigger.

'Dang, it's fifteen past one already... I hope everything's alright with her.' the redhead murmured.

'Relax, Sami. If there was something really wrong, she would've called or texted already. She's probably stuck in traffic or something.' Alexa replied, taking a sip from her ice tea.

The two were sitting on the terrace of one of the many small restaurants at the seashore, waiting for Bayley to show up. Sami had ordered a soda for himself, but hadn't taken a single sip. No, he was feeling too worried to do that. Fifteen minutes had passed already and there wasn't a single sign of Bayley, not even a phone call. The beach wasn't really that crowded, there was an old couple slowly walking past the sea (possibly recalling their younger years), a young couple watching their toddler playing in the sand, a group of teenagers who had most likely skipped school to have a beer right there on this beach, but the young woman with the ponytail wasn't seen amongst those people. Sami sure hoped Alexa was right about her theory...

Sami could imagine Bayley still being shaken up after that incident with that malfunctioning elevator in the mall. He noticed she sounded so much different on the phone earlier today; she sounded so cheerful and friendly when they had met each other at the bar, now she was speaking like she had just received a threatening letter or something like that, she sounded that scared. Perhaps the incident was still bothering her... but Sami was willing to listen to her.

The ponytailed woman had been in his mind a lot for the past days, he cared about her like they had known each other for years. From the moment they parted ways that night at the bar, Sami came to the conclusion that she was so much different than the other girls he had met during his travels and at the gym and clubs. Those girls had three things on their minds; drinking until they were wasted, touching Sami's muscled arms and getting him in their beds as fast as possible. That mindset was a huge turnoff to the redhead. But Bayley... she was different, which is what made her more interesting. She didn't care about drinking and sex, she didn't mention that once when they were talking. And she didn't look like the girl who would have an interest in those things, judging by her innocent looks. The faces of those girls he had met in the past were often covered in so much make-up you couldn't even see their natural beauty, but Bayley didn't need any make-up at all. The only thing she was wearing on her face that night was a tiny bit of mascara, and that was all the make-up she would ever need. And the things she was interested in, like video games and traveling to different countries, that also made her different. Bayley was worth thinking about, Sami knew that. Even now, he felt guilty about not coming with the girls to the mall. Damn it, if he had known she would be trapped in that damn elevator, he would've rescued her from that for sure. But now he did have the chance to help her with whatever was bothering her right now.

This time, Sami would be there for her.

Because she was freaking worth it.

But now there wasn't a sign from Bayley, now that she was fifteen minutes late. Sami kept staring at the seashore and the parking lot, hoping he would catch a glimpse of her. Alexa noticed the worried look on the redhead's face and put her glass of ice tea on the table.

'Look...' she said with a reassuring voice. 'How about I give her a phone call? You will see, she'll be fine.'

Sami nodded. He hoped Bayley would pick up and tell she was just stuck in traffic.

Alexa grabbed her cell phone from her purse and dialed Bayley's number. Pressing her phone against her ear, she was pretty sure everything was fine with her friend. She knew her, she would definitely give her a call if there was something wrong. Alexa expected Bayley to pick up at any moment... but it didn't happen. For seconds, Alexa listened to the silence on the other side of the line. She slightly frowned; what was going on here? Bayley would always pick up her phone when she was calling, this was nothing like her.

'That's weird...' Alexa mumbled when she cancelled the call. 'She won't pick up...'

Those words made Sami feel even more uncomfortable. 'Shit, Alexa... do you think something happened to her?'

'For God's sake, Sami, don't say something like that!' Alexa could feel a rather uncomfortable feeling creeping up in her stomach, her confidence in Bayley's well-being slowly fading away. 'She must be on her way... she has to be! She's probably driving her car, which is maybe why she's not picking up...' But Alexa wasn't too sure about her own words...

'I don't know, Al... I don't feel good about this at all.'

'Alright, you know what? If she won't show up until half past one, we will go look for her, okay?'

'Yeah. I just want to know if she's okay.'

The minutes felt like centuries to the two friends. They both didn't take a sip from their drinks anymore, not even Alexa. They continued to stare at the parking lot and the seashore; but as the seconds ticked by, there was still no sign from the young woman, not even a text. The almost sickening feeling in their stomachs became stronger and stronger as the worst scenarios of what could've possibly happened to her already started haunting their minds. A car crash, a kidnapping... it was all possible, and it didn't make them feel any more comfortable. The ice cubes in their drinks had melted by a long time by the time it was half past one. And Bayley still hadn't shown up.

'Right, that's it.' Sami said resolutely, getting up from his seat. 'I don't want to sit here and wait any longer, who knows what could've happened to her! Come on Alexa, let's go.'

Alexa nodded and also got up from her seat, following the redhead to the parking lot. She also didn't want to wait, who knows, maybe their friend could be out there needing their help! They got inside Sami's car; due to the heat inside the car, the leather of the seats had become as hot as lava, but it didn't bother the two friends right now. As soon as Sami had started the engine, they rushed away from the parking lot with screeching tires.

'Where could we possibly look for her?' Alexa asked as the sight of the beach disappeared into the rearview mirror.

'Let's check the road here first, maybe we can find her there.' Sami replied. The road to the beach was well known for its sharp curves, it wasn't uncommon for car accidents to happen over there. It could be very likely that Bayley was one of those unfortunate people who didn't slow down their speed in time. And if that would happen... was there a chance she would still be alive? The thought of a dead Bayley resting her bloodied head against her steering wheel inside her wrecked car made the redhead's skin crawl. 'Oh God, please...' he thought. 'Let her be okay!'

The eyes of Sami and Alexa restlessly searched the road, looking for any sign, any clue that could lead them to their friend. Alexa attempted to call Bayley one more time, but just like at the terrace, nobody picked up. She felt like throwing up now, she was that worried. But she tried to control herself; nothing would get better if she would panic.

Just then, when they turned around one of the sharp turns, Alexa spotted a familiar face next to a car wreck that had crashed into the guardrails with full force.

'Sami! Over there!' she exclaimed.

The redhead stomped on the car's brakes, halting the vehicle with a loud screech. Looking up, his heart cringed in relief.

It was Bayley.

Thank God, it was her.

They both got out of the car and hastily crossed the road; Alexa practically rushed into Bayley's arm, on the verge of crying hysterically.

'Bayley, there you are! We were worried sick, what the hell happened?'

Just then, Alexa noticed that Bayley didn't hug back. When she looked up, she and Sami noticed how shaken up she looked. Her face had become pale like a ghost's skin, she was trembling all over, she rapidly blinked her eyes that had tears welling up in their corners.

'S-S-Sami... A-Alexa...' she managed to croak out. Then she burst into tears, sobbing hysterically as she hid her face behind her hands.

Her sense of safety, along with her cell phone, had been crushed inside that wrecked car.


	11. I Need Help

**Chapter 11**

**I Need Help**

The more darker and neglected their hideout was, the better for Viktor and Konnor.

Ever since they could remember, the two demons had a preference for dark and isolated places to hide, like abandoned houses or factories, shady alleys and on some occasions, even cemeteries. The darkness of the shadows was all they needed to feel comfortable; the shadows were their homes. They both abhorred sunlight; they couldn't fuse with it, it agitated them. But in the shadows, they were at ease. In there, they could fuse with the darkness around them and feel at ease. This was because they were shadow demons; a kind of demon who could fuse with the darkness or manipulate shadows at its will.

But right now, while hiding in an abandoned house just a few kilometers away from the location where Bayley's car crash took place, the dark, dusty surroundings didn't do anything to lighten Viktor's current mood. Through the barricaded windows, thin beams of sunlight illuminated the millions of pieces of dust, which were drifting along the airflow and landing on the old furniture in the living room.

'You fool!' Viktor shouted angrily at Konnor, who was lazily lounging in a worn armchair. The taller demon seemed to be unimpressed by his companion's anger, judged by the uninterested look on his face. 'I told you to stop when she nearly reached that damn turn!'

Annoyed, Konnor rolled his eyes. 'If we would've stopped on that point, it would've been less fun.'

'You're so damn reckless!' Viktor snarled. 'We need her alive, remember? If she would've died, her life force would've been completely useless, do you remember that?!' It was true what the demon said. They needed their prey alive; if she would've died all because of Konnor's stupidity, her life force would disappear into thin air, turning their stalking into a wasted attempt to increase their powers.

'Of course I know that...' Konnor grinned. 'I just wanted that little bitch to be in fear for just a little longer.'

The taller demon wished he could've seen the terrified look on the young woman's face when she realized her final resting place could be the guardrail. However, her panicked voice was enough to curl his mouth into a sadistic grin; he enjoyed it so much, he didn't even hear Viktor telling him it was time to get out of there. During the time they hunted down their victims like wild animals, Konnor, as well as Viktor, had developed an appetite for striking fear into the women's hearts as much as possible, but unlike Konnor, Viktor knew when was the right time to cease their actions... for a while, of course. Konnor would almost always listen to him, but one some moments, just like this one, he decided to go a little bit further; and in this case, his foolishness nearly got their prey killed.

'Fuck, Viktor... I can almost taste her life force on my tongue... Can we just kill her already?'

'No, not yet.'

In the corner of his eye, the demon spotted a mangy rat emerging from a small hole in the wall, running past him in order to get to the other side of the room. But this vermin wasn't fast enough to escape what was coming next for him. Viktor stepped on his tail, causing the rat to emerge high-pitched squeaks. The demon watched with an unimpressed look on his face as the rodent tried to break free, squirming around and biting in the leather of his boots.

'It's still too early.' Viktor said. 'We will haunt her a little while longer, until she completely breaks. Then we shall strike.'

With his other foot, he stomped the defenseless rat to his death, crushing his tiny body underneath his boot. The sickening sounds of tiny breaking bones and squelching flesh filled the silence of the room.

* * *

Never in his entire life, Sami had seen somebody as terrified as Bayley was on this moment.

During the car ride to Alexa's apartment complex, his friend was sitting in the back and hadn't spoken a single word, only sobbing softly as she stared out of the car's window. It was like she didn't blink once, all she did was stare at the traffic passing her by with big fearful eyes, as if the whole world out there was out to hurt her. The only thing Alexa could do at that moment was reach over to her and gently touch her hand in an attempt to calm her down a bit. But it seemed like this increased Bayley's anxiety even more; she jumped at the sudden touch with a loud gasp. The frightened look on her face was nearly heartbreaking, she looked so scared.

The friends arrived at the apartment complex a few minutes later, parking at the parking lot near the building. Judging by her reaction earlier, Sami wasn't sure whether to put an arm around Bayley; startling her even more was the last thing he wanted. Even outside the car, the young woman looked around her like someone could attack her at any moment. This was not the woman he had met in that bar... that woman was cheerful and full of life. But now, she looked paranoid and frightened out of her wits... Sami wondered about what the hell happened on that road.

Once they were inside Alexa's apartment, the redhead helped Bayley sitting down on the white couch, which surprisingly seemed to calm her down a bit. Maybe it were the familiar surroundings that eased her anxiety.

'There there...' Sami said with a soothing voice. 'Feeling a bit better now?'

'Yeah... thanks...' Those were the first words Bayley managed to speak after breaking down in tears after they found her. Her voice was trembling and her face was so pale... it almost broke Sami's heart.

'You sit down here, okay?' Alexa said. 'I will get you a glass of water.' Then she walked away from the couch and got inside the kitchen. The sounds of water running from the tap and a cupboard opening could be heard. A few seconds later, Alexa entered the living room with a glass of water in her hand, handing it over to Bayley. 'Here you go.'

The frightened woman took a small sip. It was probably the smallest sip she had ever taken in her life; it was just a single drop of water.

'Bayley...' Alexa sat down on the couch, next to her friend. 'Can you tell us what happened over there?'

For a moment, Bayley didn't reply to the question. She stared at the glass of water in her hand; Sami and Alexa weren't sure if she was still too traumatized to say something else or if she was hesitating to tell the truth.

'Would you... believe me if I tell you what happened?' she softly spoke.

'Well yeah, of course!' Sami replied.

'That's good to hear...' Bayley took a bigger sip of her water, put it on top of the coffee table in front of her, breathed in and slowly breathed out. She was lucky her friends had found her; her phone was crushed because of the crash, a few cars did pass by her, but nobody was willing to stop and help her. She looked at Alexa, then turned her head to look at Sami. She hoped she wouldn't freak them out with her story.

'Lately... some really weird stuff has been happening to me. It all started when I was stuck in that elevator when Alexa and I went to the mall. After I got home, I got these weird texts, asking me if I was already scared... The next night, when I went to sleep, I woke up because I heard something in the living room. At first I thought it was a burglar, so I got out of my bedroom to check it out... But then the door behind me slammed shut and then I saw two big shadows sliding over the walls... I swear to God, they charged right at me! I thought they were going to hurt me, but when I looked up... they were gone. And when I drove to the beach today to meet you guys, the brakes of my car malfunctioned. If I had been staying in that car for any longer, I would've been dead by now... The elevator, the texts, the shadows, my car... I think it's all connected. I know it sounds crazy, but I think it's true. Do you believe me, guys? Please, help me...'

Sami and Alexa had been listening in awe to her the whole time, without interrupting her once. Jesus... this was some freaky shit right here. Especially the part about the shadows raised every single hair on the back of their necks. Attacking shadows... that was something that could come straight out of a horror movie. No, all of this came out of a horror movie. There are such things as freaky coincidences in the world, but this... this almost sounded too scary to be coincidences.

'My God... Bayley...' Alexa whispered. 'This is... damn, I don't know what to say...'

'I knew it...' Bayley shook her head, looking like she was on the verge of bursting into tears again. 'I'm only freaking you out with this...'

'No no no, it's alright.' Sami replied. This was also surreal to him, but he tried to keep his cool. This time, he was going to be there to help her. 'Do you have any idea who wants to do this to you?'

'No...'

'Well...' Sami paused, thinking who or what could've possibly done all of this to her. 'The most logical explanation I can give to this is that you... may have a stalker.'

Stalker? That word made Bayley's skin crawl. She had heard so many stories about women being stalked by their exes or someone unknown, and some of those stories didn't have a happy ending... But why? Why would somebody stalk her? What did she possibly do to deserve this...? But Sami was right, somehow; it was the only logical answer she could have. It all happened after the night she went to that bar, so it was very likely somebody spotted her, decided to make her his victim and followed her to her way home. And she had no idea she was being followed... Bayley tried not to freak out even more. The malfunctioning elevator, the threatening texts, the brakes in her car... it all sounded like things a stalker would do terrify his victim.

But what about those shadows on the walls? When she thought about it, it could very well be another scare tactic created by the stalker... but then that meant that person would've been in her house that night. Oh dear God, she thought she was going to throw up.

'I... I... I really don't want to go home, guys...' Bayley whimpered, her hands shaking at this point.

Sami noticed her trembling hands. 'Ssssh, calm down...' He gently put his hands on her hers, his thumb softly stroking the skin. Upon feeling his touch, Bayley managed to calm down a bit. Her hands stopped shaking. The redhead's hands were callused, yet his touch was gentle... it was nearly magical. 'You don't have to go home. You can stay at our places, if that makes you feel safer.'

'Yeah, you can stay with me tonight.' Alexa said. 'I still have a spare bedroom here, I can give you a pair of pajamas of mine.'

Bayley nodded, faintly smiling. 'Thank you guys... I... I really appreciate your help.'


	12. Connection

**Chapter 12**

**Connection**

Detective Dolph Ziggler took a cigarette out of the package, lightened it up and put it between his lips, deeply inhaling the smoke. He slowly let the smoke escape out of mouth; the taste of nicotine had always calmed him on the most stressful moments of his job. Smoking kills you, they say. But hell, anything can kill you these days; that's what he had learned throughout these last years. You couldn't even cross the street anymore without getting shot nowadays.

Dolph had been promoted to the homicide department a year ago and so far, it had been quite a rollercoaster ride. Sitting in his study room, he studied the four photos in front of him on the desk. On each photo, the face of a young woman was displayed; all of them had their eyes closed, as if they were peacefully asleep. Oh how did Dolph wish this was actually true; those four women, these young women who still had a whole future in front of them, were dead.

The detective shook his head in disbelief. Honestly... what kind of sick bastard would do something like this? Dolph knew from the very beginning, when he became a cop, he had to put all emotions aside if he wanted to wanted to solve a case. He had seen a lot of gruesome cases and corpses coming by; in a matter of time, he managed to get used to it. Each case he had worked on throughout the year was more grizzly than the other, the same went for the bodies that were found at those crime scenes. He had seen the scorched corpses of an entire family that had been burned to death in their sleeps after some sicko set their house on fire; not even the baby of the family was spared from the flames. There was also this harrowing case of woman beaten to death with a baseball bat by an abusive asshole of a husband. Her face was beyond recognizable; that bastard had beaten her until her face caved in. And let's not forget about all the car crashes Dolph had witnessed. The memories of the mutilated corpses being pulled out of the car wrecks still managed to raise the hairs on the back of his neck. And when the detective saw the body of a young boy whose mother force-fed him bleach (after which she tried to kill herself), he hardly doubted whether he wanted to have children at one point in his life. Dolph let out a tired sigh and ran his hand through his blonde hair. It was a freaking miracle he hadn't become insane yet... and he hoped it would stay like this until the day he would retire.

This case of the four women were no exception, it was horrible as well, just like the other cases. What made this especially sad was the fact that these women were still young, they were still in their mid-twenties. They were all found on vacant places across town; two were found in alleys, one was found in the park and the last one at the parking lot near a hospital. The bodies were all found within two weeks. And all of these unfortunate women had one thing in common.

There was not a single trace found on their bodies.

So far, Damien Sandow, the coroner, was unable to find anything that could've lead to the untimely demises of the women. There were so signs of strangulation, stabbing, gunshots, hell, no bones were broken either in the process. Their blood was right now being checked for poisoning, hopefully there would be useful results the next morning. No evidence was found on the crime scenes, but what made the case even more frustrating to solve was that it was impossible to find fingerprints on their clothing, bodies or their surroundings. Perhaps the killer was wearing gloves when he murdered the women...

Once again, Dolph studied the photos one by one, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette. Each woman had different features, so the possibility of the murderer picking his victims because of their features was out of option. It was like he randomly picked them... The detective hoped Damien could find at least something that could lead to a clue, or that the test results may say something. This had to be the strangest case Dolph had so far...

'Dolph!' a female muffled voice called out, coming from the kitchen. 'Dinner's ready!'

'Coming!'

The detective put out his cigarette in the ashtray; his wife Kaitlyn hated it when he smoked at the dinner table. He got up from his chair and exited his study room. The apartment the married couple lived in was small, but cozy. Dolph entered the kitchen and sat down at the dinner table. The kitchen smelled like tomato sauce, mixed with a hint of garlic. Kaitlyn put two steaming hot pots on the coasters on top of the table, containing spaghetti and sauce.

'Looks delicious, babe!' Dolph said. 'You've really outdone yourself once again.'

Kaitlyn chuckled. 'You never fail to flatter me, even after all these years. Dig in while it's still hot!'

Dolph spooned a portion of spaghetti on his plate and put some tomato sauce on top of it. He was starving hungry, eating Kaitlyn's food after a long day of hard work was always a blessing. Kaitlyn just finished putting her portion of food on her plate, but just when she wanted to take her first bite, she noticed how tired her husband looked. He had dark circles under his eyes, as a result of staying up at night to find a clue that might lead to the solution of a crime. It was part of being a detective, Kaitlyn knew that. She was proud of her husband, she really was. He wanted to make this city a better place, even if it meant staying inside his study room for many hours straight. He was dedicated to his job. Kaitlyn had always supported Dolph throughout his carreer, no matter how tired or stressed out he could be sometimes. When she brought him a cup of coffee earlier before dinner, she had seen the photos of the dead women. God, their families must be going through hell right now...

'Have you found something?' Kaitlyn asked.

Swallowing down his spaghetti, Dolph shook his head. 'No, I haven't. This is so freaking weird, Kaitlyn... Sandow couldn't find anything on their bodies, no clues were found on the crime scenes. We have looked everywhere, but we couldn't even find a single finger print. I could never forgive myself if I can't bring the families of those girls any justice.'

'I know that, Dolph.' Kaitlyn gave him a reassuring smile and put her hand on top of his. 'I'm pretty sure you will find something, I truly believe that. You have solved so many cases before, so why shouldn't you be able to solve this as well?'

'If we can't find any clues, it will only make the investigation harder, Kait. I really don't want this case to be turned into a cold case.'

Suddenly, Dolph's cell phone rang, interrupting the conversation. He took it out of his pocket and checked the screen.

'It's Sandow. Hold on a minute, I will be right back.' He got up from his seat and exited the kitchen, leaving his wife at the dinner table. Dolph hoped from the bottom of his heart the coroner finally got something. He pushed the button and pressed the cell phone against his ear.

'Sandow, what do you got?'

'Good evening to you too, Ziggler.' the coroner replied peevishly on the other side of the line. 'I have skipped dinner to solve this for you. And you're in luck... I have found something, finally.'

'What is it?'

'I have checked all four bodies for three times, but I couldn't find anything. But it was at the third time, I realized that I had overlooked one little thing... I checked if there were any signs of rape, and that's when I found it. None of them were raped... because they all died a virgin. Ziggler, I believe your suspect has an appetite for killing virgins.'


	13. Isolation

**Chapter 13**

**Isolation**

Good friends are hard to find these days; Bayley was so glad she could stay with Alexa for tonight.

She had been thinking a lot about what Sami said in the afternoon, and she agreed with him. It was the terrifying truth, but it was the only logical explanation; she had a stalker in her life.

The young woman hoped from the bottom of her heart the stalker didn't know where Alexa lived. Her arms were covered with goose bumps when she thought about the possibility he could've watched her when she barely managed to escape from her car, seconds before crashing against the guardrail. And who knows... maybe he had been watching her while she was waiting for help. Oh God, Bayley wanted to vomit at that point. But she had to try her best to remain calm, despite all the madness. If she would panic even more, she would become paranoid. That's what the stalker probably wanted her to become; a nerve-wracked shadow of her former self who looked over her shoulder every second when walking outside on the streets. No, Bayley refused to become that kind of person. If she would do that, she would give the stalker exactly what he wanted.

She had to stay strong, even in a difficult time like this.

Time seems to crawl by when you're expecting your stalker to show up at your friend's doorstep at any moment. Dusk fell after a couple of hours; Bayley had spend most of the time sitting on the couch, wondering what the hell she had to do to stop all this. The first thought she had was going to the police the next morning, perhaps they could help her. She also planned to buy a can of pepper spray, just in case. Dear God, the young woman never thought it would ever come to this. Bayley tried her best to take a couple of bites from the dinner Alexa cooked up for tonight; not because she was a terrible cook or anything, but everything had been so fucked up lately... her nervousness affected her stomach big time. It was a miracle she could keep her food down.

However, after dinner, Bayley managed to forget about her stalker for a little while. Alexa did try her best to make her friend comfortable, sitting down on the couch with her, chatting and cracking jokes with her. It all made Bayley forget about what had happened these past days.

'I don't know whether it's just me...' Alexa said with a big grin after swallowing down a gulp of wine. 'But... I think Sami might have a crush on you!'

'Oh come on, Alexa!' Bayley laughed. 'Are you getting tipsy again?'

'No no no, I'm serious! When we were at the beach, he was so worried about you, you should've seen him.'

Holy cow... so he really did care about her. If Bayley had been in a slightly better mood, she would've probably blushed from ear to ear. But if somebody was worried about someone else, it didn't immediately mean that person would have a crush on that one. She and Sami were just good friends, that's what Bayley thought. But the thought of the bearded redhead having feelings for her... it made a pleasant warm feeling develop inside Bayley's stomach, taking the nervousness away.

'Oh? What do I see there?' Alexa pointed at her friend's face. 'Is that a blush again? I freaking knew it! You also have a crush on him!'

'Could you knock it off already, Al?' Bayley replied giggly. 'There's nothing going on between us, we're just good friends, that's all!'

'That's what they all say...'

'For goodness' sake.'

Bayley let out a yawn. 'You know... I think I'm going to bed a bit earlier today. Do you mind that?'

'No, not at all. I can imagine you're already tired after everything that happened today... You know what, I think I will go to bed too. Hold on, I will fetch a nightgown for you. You know where the bedroom is, right?'

Inside the spare bedroom, Alexa handed over a nightgown of her own. It was a blue and a little bit short; the kind of clothing Alexa preferred to wear. But Bayley could live with it.

'Hey... if you need anything, you can come to me, okay?'

'Yeah, alright. Thanks a lot for letting me stay here, Alexa.'

'You're my best friend Bayley, of course I would let you stay here. Tomorrow, I will help you to fix all of this... We will stop that sicko, I promise you that.'

Bayley curled the corners of her mouth into a small smile and hugged her friend. 'Again, thank you so much... I don't know what I should've done without you guys.'

'We're there for you, always.' Alexa replied, hugging Bayley back. 'Good night, Huglife.'

'Sleep well, Glitter Girl.'

* * *

But a little while after the light was shut off and she got inside the bed, Bayley was wide awake.

The calmness she had felt earlier in the living room with Alexa started to fade away and was slowly replaced with the paranoia she tried to ignore so hard. Here in the darkness, she felt more vulnerable than ever. What if her stalker had followed them all the way to Alexa's apartment? Would he know what floor she was on? Now that it was dark, was he waiting in the hallway, planning on how he was going to break into the apartment? Bayley closed her eyes, desperately trying to get some sleep, but that was nearly impossible. Her head was pounding, it started to become painful. When she was a little girl, the only thing she was afraid of was the darkness of her bedroom at night; the only thing that could make her less fearful was the little lamp on the wall. But right now, a lamp wasn't going to make her feel any more safer. Someone out there was following her, wanting to hurt her. How the hell could you have a peaceful night of sleep if you knew that? Bayley tossed and turned, but couldn't fall asleep.

'Damn it, Bayley!' she mentally yelled at herself. 'Don't become paranoid! Don't give that bastard what he wants!'

The young woman sighed. Of course she didn't want to give into the paranoia, but... how the hell was she going to remain calm? How long would it last before she would eventually break? No, she had to stay strong, she had to! If she would lose her mind, things would only get worse! Bayley stared at the ceiling in the darkness. She remembered a time in elementary school where she was bullied by a classmate. When she told her father about the bullying, he went straight to the bully's home and told his parents about his appalling behavior. The parents must have punished their son for this, because the next day he apologized to Bayley for what he did and she was never bullied during elementary school again. But it was most likely the stalker wasn't going to give two shits if her father told him to stop stalking his daughter.

'It's going to be alright...' Bayley whispered to herself. 'Tomorrow you're going to look for a way to stop all of this.'

She closed her eyes once more and relaxed her body. The pain in her head seemed to lessen. Slowly, Bayley drifted off to sleep.

Everything was going to be alright...

But before her consciousness could fully disconnect itself from the world around her, Bayley was hard-handedly woken up by a sharp pain at her scalp.

Immediately she was pulled out of her sleep as she let out a yelp in pain. Someone was pulling her hair with an immense strength, as if that person wanted to rip her hair straight out of her head. It had to be the stalker, was the first thought that went through Bayley's head. Oh dear God, he got into the apartment! Bayley desperately tried to struggle free, grabbing at the hand that was trying to rip out her hair. Her hand found that hand; immediately she started scratching it like her life depended on it... which was probably the case. The stalker looked like he wanted to pull his victim out of the bed. But as sudden as he appeared in the bedroom, as sudden as he let go of Bayley's hair. The terrified woman nearly fell out of her bed, but managed to sit up and quickly turn on the night lamp on the nightstand. The room was immediately illuminated... but it was like the stalker had vanished into thin air.

It was completely quiet, if Bayley's loud rapid heartbeat and shaky breathing didn't count. Her limbs were trembling, it felt like her heart was about to jump right out of her chest. With her eyes widened in fear, Bayley looked around the room. Where did he go?! Where did that bastard go?!

Her heart skipped a beat.

Oh God.

Could it be that... he was hiding underneath her bed?

This was something straight out of a horror movie. Here she was, alone in her bedroom... and the monster was hiding underneath her bed, ready to attack her and tear her to pieces. Bayley wanted to scream for Alexa, but just like in a nightmare, it felt like her throat was filled with sand. Not even a sound could escape between her lips. She had to know. She had to know what was under her bed. Gathering all the courage she had, she took a deep breath. She didn't want to, but she had to do it. And if her stalker was indeed hiding underneath her bed... she was going to make a run for it. She would run out of her bedroom, wake up Alexa and get out of the apartment along with her.

'Come on, Bayley...' she thought. 'You can do it...'

Her heart was pounding in her head when the young woman got out of her bed; for a moment she expected the stalker to grab her by the ankles, but that didn't happen. She got down on her hands and knees and slowly lowered her head, mentally preparing herself to run like a bat out of hell.

The space between the floor and her bed was empty.

But it was still too early to catch a relieved breath. If the stalker wasn't underneath the bed... then where was he?

Two male voices could be heard mockingly chuckling behind her.

Letting out a terrified gasp, Bayley jumped up and looked behind her. There they were again. The shadows that haunted her apartment last night. Like giant blots of pitch black paint, they stained the walls and didn't move... as if they were taunting Bayley once again. Nothing in this room could produce this kind of shadows. The shadows glided down from the walls to the floor and slithered towards the bed, making the scared woman jump back into her bed, covering herself with the sheets, protecting herself against whatever they were going to do next. Peeking above the sheets, Bayley watched in horror as the two shadows grew larger, slowly taking humanoid shapes. The shapes of two tall men. The 'shadows' chuckled once more, only this time more sinisterly.

They were no ordinary stalkers.

These stalkers weren't human.

Until now, Bayley's throat was unable to produce a single sound. But now, she managed to finally make one. She clenched her eyes shut and screamed as loudly as humanly possible, praying to God and everything else that was holy that Alexa would hear her. And thank God, apparently she did hear her; rapid footsteps could be heard in the hallway, getting louder as they got closer to the spare room. Just a split second before Alexa could swing open the door, the two 'men' disappeared in the blink of an eye. The door's handle hit the wall with a loud bang when Alexa entered the bedroom, rushing towards Bayley.

'Jesus Christ, Bayley! Are you alright? What the hell happened?!' she asked with a startled voice as she protectively put her arms around her friend.

But Bayley was unable to say anything. All she could do was stare in front of her, her eyes widened in fear and her body trembling uncontrollably.

* * *

Nobody slept that night.

Immediately after Bayley managed to utter that her stalker (who apparently didn't work alone) was inside her bedroom, Alexa called the police. While waiting for the police to arrive, she had stayed with her friend the entire time, trying her best to calm her down, which she was barely able to. Two policemen arrived a little while after Alexa made the call; they inspected the entire apartment for signs of a burglary, anything could lead to the 'burglars'. (In a brief fit of paranoia, Bayley thought the policemen were the two shadows, transformed into human beings) But unfortunately, they couldn't find anything. They advised Alexa to purchase a door chain before they left.

Bayley probably only had less than half an hour of sleep before the first sunbeam woke up the city. When she entered the kitchen, already fully dressed, guilt poured over like a heavy rainstorm. Her friend was preparing a pot of coffee, she looked just as tired as Bayley.

This was her fault.

She should've never let her friend get involved into this misery.

Bayley had been thinking about this from the moment she woke up from her short nap. It was so painful for her, but... it was the only way.

Alexa noticed her friend in the corner of her eye and looked up. But right now, she didn't get the chance to comfort her.

'Al... I'm sorry...' Bayley whispered. 'I'm so sorry... This is all my fault.'

Alexa shook her head. 'No Bayley, don't say...'

'It is my fault, Al. I should've never let you get involved into this, you don't deserve this. Those... things last night. They weren't human. And those things followed me all the way here, to your place. They could've harmed you, Alexa. I would never forgive myself if they did anything to you. Heck, I can't even forgive myself right now for pulling you into this mess. I don't want you to get hurt, Al, I don't want Sami to get hurt either. Which is why... it's better for you to stay away from me.'

'Bayley...!'

'Trust me Alexa, it's the best for you and Sami. Those things seem to know where I'm going. This should've never happened to you. So please Al, I'm begging you... don't come near me again. I'm so sorry. I will always appreciate what you have done for me, but... it's too dangerous. I hope you can forgive me one day. Goodbye, Glitter Girl...'

With tears burning in her eyes, Bayley turned around, left the kitchen, walked through the hallway and exited the apartment.


	14. Here For You

**Chapter 14**

**Here For You**

'I wonder if she managed to get some sleep last night...' Sami wondered to himself when he parked his car at the apartment complex's parking lot that afternoon.

The bearded redhead couldn't get the mental picture of Bayley's pale face out of his head yesterday, it was practically haunting him. He did speak briefly to Alexa before she went to sleep herself, she said she was still a little bit shaken up, but otherwise fine. But there was something else too that bothered Sami a lot; the fact that nobody stopped to help her after her car crashed. People nowadays don't even bother to stop for a second with what they're doing to help someone in need. Sami shook his head in disdain; people like that ticked him off so much. What would've happened if he and Alexa had never left the beach to go look for Bayley? Maybe she would've still be standing near the guardrail by this morning. The redhead would've never forgiven himself if that had happened.

Out of all people, out of all women in this city, Bayley had to be one who had to be stalked. Why her? What did she ever do to deserve this? Sami had always thought stalkers were sick bastards. What kind of twisted human being could ever find joy in tormenting others? The redhead swore if he would ever catch that bastard, he would make him pay for turning Bayley's life into a nightmare. He got out of his car and walked toward the apartment complex. This morning he planned to pay a visit to Alexa, hopefully Bayley would still be there. He entered the apartment complex; instead of taking the elevator, he took the stairs. Alexa's apartment was on the second floor, no need to take the elevator for that. He arrived at the second floor and knocked on the front door of the apartment. After a little while, Alexa opened the door.

The redhead immediately noticed something was wrong.

Normally, Alexa would always greet him with a cheerful smile. But now, it looked like the corners of her mouth refused to curl into a smile. Just now, Sami noticed how tired she looked. Did something happen to Bayley...?

'Hey, Sami.' she said softly.

'Alexa... what's the matter? Did something happen?'

The petite woman nodded. 'Come inside, I will tell you everything.'

The redhead followed her inside, shutting the door behind him. He followed Alexa to the living room, where they both sat down on the couch. Sami looked around him; Bayley was nowhere to be seen. Upon a closer look, Sami noticed his friend's eyes were slightly bloodshot... as if she hadn't gotten any sleep last night.

'How did it go last night?' the bearded redhead asked. 'Where's Bayley?'

Alexa let out a sigh and shook her head. 'God, Sami... so much freaky shit happened last night.'

'Why? What happened?'

'We... we were going to sleep last night. Everything seemed fine, really. It was just like I told you, she was still a bit shaken up, but fine. I was about to fall asleep when I heard Bayley screaming in the spare bedroom. And I mean screaming, Sami! Jesus, I never heard anyone screaming that loud. I immediately got out of bed and ran towards the bedroom. She told me there was something in her room, so I was convinced her stalker was inside the apartment. I called the police, but they couldn't find any sign of forced entry...' A chill ran over Alexa's spine. Dear God, that sick bastard was inside her apartment... She wondered how the hell he got in here in the first place, if there weren't any signs of a burglary. How the hell was this possible?

Sami felt sick to his stomach. Jesus Christ, this was something straight out of a nightmare! 'Did he hurt you girls?' he asked.

Again, Alexa shook her head. 'No, nothing happened us, thankfully. But it sure did change something in Bayley... This morning she told me to stay away from her, she was convinced I would be hurt if I would see her any longer. She didn't want you to get hurt either, Sami. She also said something about those... things in the bedroom weren't 'human'. I wonder what she meant by that... But before I could even ask, she already left the apartment.'

Damn...

Sami didn't say anything for a little while, staring at the ground with a thoughtful look on his face.

'How about I go talk to her?' he offered, looking up.

'You think you can change her mind?'

'I could give it a shot. I want to help her just as much as you do, Alexa.'

The petite woman nodded. Maybe Sami could make her snap out of it. They were her friends, they wanted to be there for her.

* * *

After a little while, the redhead exited the apartment complex, got into his car and put Bayley's address into his GPS.

During the car ride, the story of Alexa still haunted him. Goosebumps appeared all over his arms from the thought of her and Bayley being harmed. But what also quite scared him was the fact that something 'inhuman' entered Bayley's room. Were it perhaps the same moving shadows that haunted her apartment the other night? It was very likely... What could a stalker probably do to produce such shadows?

What if... the shadows didn't have an owner at all?

Sami shook his head. No way. There were no such things as ghosts! There had to be a logical explanation for the moving shadows, it was the only way. But he had never heard of shadows that would attack you... This was so fucked up, in so many ways. But no matter how fucked up all of this was, he was still willing to help Bayley. Whether she was dealing with a stalker or 'ghosts', the redhead was going to help her to get rid of her tormentor. He hoped from the bottom of his heart that his words could make her allow her friends back into her life again. She didn't have to be afraid of Sami being hurt; he knew how to throw a couple of punches, he wouldn't mind spending time in prison for beating the living shit out of her stalker.

He was going to try his best.

For her.

Because god damn it, he cared so much about his friend.

It didn't last long before he arrived at the apartment complex where Bayley lived. 'You have reached your destination.' the toneless female voice of the GPS reported. Sami turned off the GPS and parked at the apartment complex's parking lot. He got out of his car and walked towards the big building. It was a sunny day, but perhaps for Bayley, it felt like time had stood still for her. The redhead could already imagine it; the young woman locking herself up in her bedroom, sobbing hysterically, her eyes rimmed with soft red and widened with fear. Sami tried his best to cast the mental picture out of his mind, it was too heart-wrenching. He entered the apartment complex and took the stairs once more, heading towards the third floor, just like Alexa told him to do. Bayley's apartment was at the second door on the left. He arrived at the third floor and turned left, walking towards the front door. He checked the name tag next to the door. Bayley Martinez; he was at the right address.

Sami knocked on the wood, three times. 'Bayley? It's me, Sami!' he said. He waited for the young woman to open the door... but it didn't happen. The redhead decided to give it another shot. He knocked on the door again. 'Are you home, Bayley?' he asked. That's when he remembered what Alexa said; she didn't want her friends to see her anymore. He let out a sigh... but there was no way in hell he was going to give up on her. 'Look...' he spoke. 'Alexa has told me everything and... Please let me in, Bayley. I can help you, there's nothing to be afraid of. You have to trust me. So please, open the door!'

He listened to the silence once more, hoping his friend would respond. And much to his relief, something changed. He heard faint footsteps, getting closer as they approached the door. The door slowly opened with a loud creak and the pale face of a young woman anxiously took a look at her visitor.

It was just like the image he had in his head earlier; Sami's heart cringed. The once lively eyes were so rimmed with red, with dark circles under them. She almost looked like a ghost, she was so pale. This wasn't the woman he met at the bar that night; this was a shade of her former self, all caused by that sick bastard.

'How do I know you're the real Sami?' Bayley asked with a trembling voice.

'Wait, what?' Dear God, she was about to lose her freaking mind!

'You could be one of those shadows, disguised as a human!'

'Bayley, you're wrong! It's me, Sami!' The redhead put his hands on top of her shoulders, gently squeezing them, trying to make her snap out of this crazy paranoia. 'You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not one of those shades, you have to believe me! I'm your friend, Sami!'

It was quiet for a moment as Bayley stared at her friend.

'Oh God...' she whispered as tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. 'Sami... I'm so sorry...'

Thank goodness, she snapped out of it.

'Don't be sorry.' the redhead said with a little smile, happy that she believed him. 'I know you are scared... but you don't have to be. I'm here for you, remember?'

Bayley nodded. She tried her best to smile, but the corners of her mouth refused to do so. From the moment she arrived at her apartment, she basically became a prisoner of her own home. Curling herself into a fetal position on her couch, she expected the shadows to appear again, this time planning to hurt her for real. She didn't even bother to call her employer to tell him she wouldn't be showing up for work today, she was even too scared to do that. Her comfortable life had come to a screeching halt... and she was convinced it wouldn't take long before she would also lose her mind. Monster didn't exist, her father always said... then how the hell did those 'men' emerge out of those shadows?! This was too much, God, this was too much...

'Sami...' Bayley said. 'I really appreciate your help, I really do. But honestly, it's better for you and Alexa to stay away from me. I don't want you to get hurt because of me.'

'No.' Sami replied resolutely. 'I am not going to abandon you, Bayley. I refuse to let you suffer like this, the way you are suffering is inhuman! I still regret not coming with you when you got trapped in that goddamn elevator, from that moment on I swore I would always be there for you when you were in trouble. I'm not going to give up on you, Bayley. You are my friend, and damn it, I care about you. I won't let those... shadows mentally break you any further. You need to get out of here, staying here for the rest of the day won't do you any good. You can spend the day with me, I'm going to make sure you will feel safe again. Because believe me when I say this... I'm going to protect you. So what do you say, Bayley? Do you want to come with me? I promise I will make you smile again.'

Bayley believed him. She believed every word he said. Everything was better than staying here, waiting for evil shadows to hurt you. Spending a day just with Sami... it made the pleasant warm feeling develop in her stomach once more. A feeling she had almost forgotten because of all the madness.

The young woman nodded.

'Alright then.'


	15. A Sense Of Safety

**Chapter 15**

**A Sense Of Safety**

It was the perfect weather to visit the city's park today. The bright sun and the pleasant temperature of the summer invited people to go outside and enjoy the day at the park, pool or somewhere else. It turned out that Sami was not the only one who planned to go to the huge park; people could be seen having a picnic with friends or family, music could be heard blasting from radios here and there, a few couples walked down the road holding their hands and chatting, two teenage boys throwing a frisbee at each other and a mother with a toddler were feeding pieces of old bread to the ducks near the park's pond.

Before they went out, Bayley quickly changed her outfit; she was now wearing a comfortable lilac dress with leather sandals. She looked like a liked a little princess, much to Sami's amusement. But even when they just entered the park, she looked anxiously around her, still unable to smile. In the bright daylight, it became clear how dark the bags under her eyes were. She acted like she had been isolated from the outside world for years, as if she had locked herself up in her apartment for years in a state of paranoia... but this made the redhead more determined to put a smile on her face.

'Hey...' he said, gently squeezing Bayley's bare arm. She let out an audible gasp and looked up, blinking her eyes rapidly. 'You don't have to be scared, I'm with you, remember?' Even when she was with company, it didn't do anything to lighten her anxiety. Hopefully that would be changed by the end of the day.

The redhead pointed at an ice cream cart in the distance. People of all ages were crowded around it, everyone would be craving for some fresh ice cream on a day like this. The ice cream could become a freaking millionaire if his business kept up like this. 'Do you want some ice cream?' Sami asked. 'I've had ice cream here before, and I'll tell you, it's really good!' Perhaps the cold dairy product could lighten her mood a little bit... even if it would last for a little while.

Bayley nodded. 'Sure...'

They walked towards the ice cream cart and stood in the long line, patiently waiting for their turn to order. But it wouldn't last long for Bayley's paranoia to kick up again. She looked around her, noticing the people in front and behind her. The shadows could've followed her to the park and transformed into humans... God, maybe they could be standing right behind or in front of her at this very moment! A chill ran up her spine. She tried to control her breathing, there was no way in hell she was going to hyperventilate among all these people. But as she tried to try breathe as normally as possible, she got the feeling she was suffocating. It was the paranoia, squeezing her throat shut. Oh God, was she going to lose her mind right here, in a freaking line for the ice cream cart?

Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around her waist, making it possible for her to breathe again.

The young woman looked up, her eyes meeting Sami's. The look in his eyes, it was so comforting, so... warm. He smiled reassuringly at her; Bayley knew immediately what he was trying to say to her. His face right now said more than a thousand words. She felt herself calming down, her breathing was back to normal. 'I'm safe.' she realized. And she was right about that. As long as Sami was with her, she would be okay. After all, he told her he refused to give up on her. That was such a sweet thing of him to say... no man had ever said that to her. The warm feeling in her stomach came back again. Sami was such a great guy... But still, Bayley would never forgive herself if he got hurt because of her.

It took a little while, but it was finally the friends' turn to order their ice cream.

'Good afternoon, what would you like?' the friendly ice cream man asked, a man in his late sixties.

'Let's see... I want a cone with two scoops of strawberry, please. What do you want, Bayley?'

'Uhm... I'd like a cone with vanilla and chocolate, please.'

'Coming right up!'

The ice cream man cleaned the scoop and quickly prepared two cones for the two friends. After Sami handed over a dollar bill, they received their sweet treat.

'Enjoy your ice cream!' the ice cream man said. 'And I have to say, you two make an adorable couple!'

Immediately upon hearing that, the redhead burst into a loud hearty laugh. It seemed like his laughter was contagious; finally, after a morning full of anxiety, Bayley managed to crack a smile on her face. It was a very small one, but it was at least something. 'We are not a couple, good sir.' Sami replied. 'We are friends, but thanks for the compliment anyway!'

The two friend walked away from the ice cream cart, already lapping at their treat.

'How's yours, Bayley? Is it any good?' the redhead asked.

'Hmm... Yup, it's delicious, thank you.' Sami was right, the ice cream here was delicious!

'We should do this more often, so far I'm having a great time!' Sami said after taking another lick from his ice cream.

'I... I would love to.'

The redhead grinned from ear to ear in joy when he looked at Bayley's face. The young woman was staring at her ice cream, a small smile was displayed on her face. Sami's felt like his heart was making a little jump in joy. Thank God, she was smiling! When he visited her at her apartment this morning, she looked like she had seen a ghost, she looked so scared. It was truly heart-wrenching... But now, in the bright, warm daylight, holding a tasty ice cream in her hand and surrounded in a lively area, it looked like her comfortable life had gone back to normal. Her pale face had regained a bit of the original skin color again, making the bags under her eyes lighter and her appearance healthier. Bayley was a true natural beauty, something most women Sami had met throughout his travels didn't have. Bayley was much different than those women, in the perspectives of personality and looks.

Only now, Sami finally noticed how... attractive she actually was.

Yes, that was right.

Everything about Bayley was attractive to Sami; her looks, her personality, heck, even her smile could lighten up his world. Bayley was special, she was different. Unlike the other women, she actually could make a warm feeling develop inside Sami's stomach. And he knew damn well when he was feeling that warmth... it was when he was in love. Before he knew it, the redhead had fallen in love with the ponytailed woman. It was just one of those things that could happen to some people at one point in their lives; a person you saw as a good friend turning into a potential soul mate. And right now, this happened to Sami. Now he didn't want to protect Bayley because she was a good friend... he wanted to protect her because he loved her.

'Sami?' Bayley suddenly asked.

'Yeah?'

'Thank you for bringing me here... I actually feel a bit better now.' She still had that small smile on her face.

'See?' Sami chuckled and put his arm around his love interest. 'Told you I would put a smile on your face again!'

After a little while, they finished their ice creams and Bayley seemed to feel more at ease. And this was actually true. For the first time in these agonizing days, she managed to finally feel safe. She noticed she didn't look back over her shoulder that much, she was way too busy chatting with Sami, talking about video games, movies, books and a few more things that matched their interests. The paranoia had taken a backseat, she felt completely at ease. It was like... she had her life back again. Here in the city park, walking next to Sami, she didn't feel the anxiety that had been suffocating her for days. Bayley was having a great time and it was all thanks to Sami. Everything was better than locking yourself up in your own apartment, lying on the couch with your heart pounding in your head, waiting for those terrifying shadows to make their next move. She noticed Sami tried avoiding the subject about the stalking as much as possible, it was likely he did it because he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable again. That was so sweet of him...

They walked through the park, enjoying the weather and their conversation, often cracking jokes. Sami had a great sense of humor, he didn't fail to make Bayley laugh. Numerous people were passing them by, but for the two friends, it felt like it was only them in this park. A while later, the ponytailed woman's stomach started to growl, much to Sami's amusement; due to the fact that she was too scared to even eat anything in her apartment (she only ate a single dry cracker for breakfast) and had ice cream an hour ago, her stomach was practically screaming for more food. At a hotdog cart near one of the park's ponds, the redhead bought her a hotdog. Sitting down on a bench overlooking the pond, the two friends took a little break.

'How's the hotdog?' Sami asked.

'It's good, thanks!' Bayley said after swallowing down a piece of her hotdog. 'Want a bite?'

'No, thank you.'

It was silent between the two for a little moment. Sami stared at Bayley while she continued to eat her hotdog. He chuckled; even when she was eating, she looked pretty.

'What's so funny?' Bayley asked, looking up. She had just finished eating the last part of the hotdog.

To her, Sami couldn't lie. 'It's just that you look so adorable when you're eating.'

The young woman giggled like a little schoolgirl, covering her mouth with her hand. She could feel the blood rushing towards her cheeks. Oh my gosh, did he just really say that?! 'Well, that's quite a compliment!' she chuckled. 'No guy has ever said that to me that I'm adorable...'

'Wait... really?' Sami raised his eyebrows in surprise. 'No guy had ever told you that you have good looks?'

Bayley shook her head. 'No... Out of all boys I have dated throughout high school, not one of them had ever complimented me about my looks. And now that I'm looking back at it, I can pretty much figure out exactly why they were dating me... It was most likely because they wanted me to sleep with them as quickly as possible. But I never gave into that, though... which is why those relationships never lasted long.'

'Jeez...' Sami shook his head in disgust. Some teen boys could have such shallow desires. 'That's disgusting, for real. They probably didn't have a single clue of how much of a wonderful person you actually are.'

Bayley blinked her eyes in surprise. 'You... think I'm a wonderful person, Sami?' But she was such a freaking mental wreck right now... would somebody still think she was that much of a great person?

'Absolutely!' the redhead replied with a grin. 'I mean, you are so much different than those other girls I have dated throughout my life... I... I have never met anyone like you.'

The ponytailed woman bit her lower lip and looked away, her cheeks felt like they were on fire. She was so flattered, she didn't know what to say! Her heart was beating in her chest, it felt like hundreds of butterflies were flapping around in her stomach. On that moment, Sami became much more than just a good friend to her...

'You're... you're a great guy, Sami.'

The redhead chuckled and put his arm around her. Together, they stared at the pond with a dreamy look on their faces. 'Those boys were just big dumbasses...' Sami mumbled.

Soon the sun went down, the temperature became slightly colder, frisky enough to make goose bumps appear all over Sami's and Bayley's arms.

They walked towards the exit of the park, but as they got closer, the ponytailed woman started to feel more and more uncomfortable. Yes, she had an amazing day, but right now, she was about to be thrown back into the harsh reality. A fun day or not, she was still being stalked by something unexplainable. At her apartment, the shadows were probably waiting for her, ready for another night filled with terror. She didn't want to go home, but she didn't want to go with Sami either; when she was convinced she was safe at Alexa's apartment, those shadows had followed her to her friend's place last night and managed to strike a huge amount of fear into her heart once more. When they were sitting on the bench and Sami spoke those sweet words to her, he had turned into something much bigger than a good friend; he became her love interest. Now that she had a crush on him, Bayley only cared more about him... and his safety. The shadows knew exactly where she was going. Alexa could've been hurt last night, God knows what those shadows could've done to her. Bayley would never forgive herself if something happened to Sami. No, she didn't want him to be hurt, not now, not ever.

They drove away from the park and Sami later stopped at a small pizzeria near the beach. He ordered a large pepperoni pizza which they shared together, sitting at a small oak table with, much to Sami's amusement, candlelight. Perhaps the staff thought the two were a couple, which is why they lit up the candle on top of the table while they were waiting for their pizza. Bayley was much more quiet compared to when she was in the park; Sami thought she was just a bit tired.

'So, Bayley...' he asked after taking a sip of his glass of water. 'Do you want to stay at my place for tonight?'

The young woman didn't respond for a moment, staring at her pizza slice. She hoped she wouldn't upset the redhead with this... but it was for the best.

She shook her head. 'Sami...' she softly spoke. 'I really appreciate what you have done for me today, I really do. But... it's not safe for you to hang around with me.'

'Why? What do you mean?'

'Think about it, Sami... Those shadows must've followed me when I was staying at Alexa's place last night, they knew where to find me. They could've hurt Alexa because of me and... I don't want you to get hurt.'

'You don't have to worry about me, Bayley. I'll fight them off if they dare to touch you or me, shadow or not.'

'Please, you don't understand. Those shadows... they aren't normal shadows. They move out of themselves. You're not safe around me, believe me. I can't stay at your place, I'm so sorry.'

Sami didn't say anything for a while. 'Are you sure about this?' he then spoke softly.

'Yeah.'

'If that's what you really want, then... remember that you can call me at any moment. You have my phone number, right?'

'Sami... are you mad at me?'

The redhead sighed and shook his head. 'I'm not mad at you, Bayley. It's just that if this is what you really want, I respect that wish. But I want you to remember that you can call me if something happens or if you change your mind.'

Bayley let out a soft sigh. It was hard to do this, but she was glad he understood.

Sami paid the check after they finished their dinner. They exited the pizzeria and got back to Sami's car. The car ride was spend in rather uncomfortable silence, but it wasn't because they were mad at each other. Sami respected Bayley's wish, he honestly did, but if he would receive one phone call from her, he wouldn't hesitate to go to her apartment to help her. When he was driving to her apartment complex, he noticed it wasn't too far away from his home; it would last perhaps five minutes before he would get there.

For Bayley, he would do anything.

A while later, the redhead stopped his car in front of the apartment complex. Before Bayley got out, Sami put his hand on top of hers, gently squeezing it.

'Don't be afraid to call, okay? I will always be there for you.'

Bayley gave him a small smile, but Sami quickly noticed it was a sad smile. This must've been just as hard for her as it was for him... 'Thank you, Sami... You're a great guy, you really are.'

'Please let me know if there's something going on, even if it's the smallest thing.'

'I will. Again... thank you, Sami.'

Bayley got out of the car and slammed the car door shut. Sami drove away, keeping an eye on the young woman by looking in the car's door.

He hoped from the bottom of his heart she would be okay.


	16. Fresh Blood

**Chapter 16**

**Fresh Blood**

There were very rare days where there was absolutely nothing to do at the police station.

Every day, new reports would come in, ranging from petty thefts like burglaries in low-class neighborhoods to far more serious cases like rape and murder. That morning, Dolph arrived at the police station with the hope that the guys from the forensic team was able to find a clue at the crime scenes where the bodies of the women were found. The blonde detective would start every single morning, from the day he was promoted to the homicide department, by staring at Kaitlyn's sleeping face. As she was lying there in their bed, sound asleep, he would bless himself for being able to wake up next to her every day. The career of a detective was everything but secure; you always had to watch your back, the chance that you would get shot or stabbed by a criminal who still had beef with you. Throughout the year, Dolph managed to get many criminals behind bars, without a doubt they were still holding a grudge against the man who caught them. So far none of them had been released, but when one or more of them would be released later on, there was a big chance they would come after Dolph. Or even worse... they could come after Kaitlyn. But Dolph wasn't stupid. He had never mentioned his wife or other family members, nor his address throughout the interrogations, so it would be impossible for the suspects to know where search at if they wanted to get back at the detective. Kaitlyn was going to be safe, Dolph had made absolutely sure of that.

But what he first needed right now was a good cup of coffee. He didn't have time to get one at breakfast this morning, since it was getting late. In the hallway of the police station, there was a coffee machine. Some police officers were already standing near it, ready to kick off their duties with a cup of the hot drink. The detective waited patiently until the other officers got their drink. Finally it was his turn. Dolph grabbed a carton cup and placed on top of the plastic frame, underneath the tap. But just when he wanted to press the button for the machine to fill the cup with espresso, he heard a familiar voice called out for him.

'Ah, detective Ziggler! There you are!'

Dolph responded to the call, turning around. It was Chief Vince McMahon. After years of investigating and solving dozens of crimes, even a couple of cold cases, he managed to get himself promoted to the title of Chief and started his own police station. Everyone here, from the janitor to even Dolph himself, had the upmost respect for McMahon. He had seen quite some upsetting cases coming by, and yet he managed to remained mentally stable throughout the years as a detective. If Dolph could keep it up like McMahon did in his younger years, there could be a possibility he might be promoted to a high status like his boss as well. It would take a lot of years, but it would definitely be worth it.

'Good morning, Chief.' the blonde detective replied.

'How's the case of those four women going? Did Sandow find anything yet?'

'Ah, yes.' Dolph looked around him, making sure only the Chief would hear it. This information was quite valuable, if it would leak out it could cause panic amongst the citizens who had the killer's preferable trait; plus, it could cost his career. But the coast was clear, nobody was paying attention to them. 'The four victims were all virgins.' the detective reported with a soft voice. 'It looks like our guy has a penchant for killing those kind of women.'

'I see...' McMahon replied with a frown. 'You'd better find that bastard before he makes any more victims, Ziggler.'

'Yes sir.'

'But there's another reason why I want to speak with you, detective. Follow me to my office, please.'

Dolph nodded and followed the older men towards the staircase. What was there to talk about? Was it about his career or perhaps about the case of the four women? Or... was he maybe going to give him a promotion? Nah, to think like that was really naive. It could possibly take more years for Dolph in order to get promoted, he only worked in the homicide department for a year. Plus, he didn't solve any groundbreaking cases; if he would catch a notorious serial killer, then there might be a chance he would get promoted. Who knows... maybe catching this guy would give a boost to his career.

The office of Chief McMahon was on the second floor of the police station. The Chief opened the door and Dolph immediately spotted a young man sitting in front of the desk. He turned around when he heard the door opening behind him. He was in his early thirties, just like Dolph. He had short brown hair, blue eyes and the cockiest grin the detective had ever seen in his entire life.

'So you must be my new partner then?' the man asked with the grin still glued on his face. 'You're in luck then, pal! The greatest cop in all of America has just arrived!'

'Partner? Wait... what?' Dolph asked, completely confused. He was getting a new partner? But he didn't receive any news about this!

'I suppose Mike over here pretty much told you the reason why I wanted you to come to my office.' McMahon sat down behind his desk, gesturing to Dolph to sit down next to his apparently new partner. 'Take a seat, Ziggler.'

With a confused look on his face, Dolph sat down on the chair next to Mike, who was smiling from ear to ear. Honest to God, he was so cocky... the detective already didn't like him.

'This man right here is Mike Mizanin. He has transferred from Ohio a day ago, I've assigned him as your new partner.'

'You can call me 'Miz.'' Miz stuck out his hand, as if he was awaiting a handshake from the blonde detective. 'Everybody calls me that.'

Acting as polite as possible, Dolph gave him a handshake. 'Detective Dolph Ziggler, pleased to meet you.'

It has been seven months now that the detective had been working alone. Immediately after Dolph had been promoted to the homicide department, he was assigned with a partner. His name was Ettore Langston, and hell, that guy was a damn good man. He was one buff fella, the kind of guy who could break down a door with his shoulder after charging into it after five times. He was quite muscled too. It was sometimes pretty hilarious to see the facial expressions of the suspects going from a confident grin to a terrified stare whenever they saw Langston enter the interrogation room if they refused to say something; his posture alone was enough to get a confession from them. But despite his intimidating looks, Ettore was actually the friendliest guy you would ever meet. During the breaks and even during the investigations, he would be optimistic and often crack jokes. He was tough when shit got real, but from the inside, he was a big teddy bear with a huge passion for his career. He would often come over to Dolph's place to have dinner with him and Kaitlyn or watch a football match with him on TV. Even Kaitlyn liked him. It was like something straight out of a 'buddy cop' movie.

But one day, all of this abruptly came to an end.

The police station learned from a 911 call that a robbery was occurring at the bank; those bastards were heavily armed and had taken several hostages. Almost every cop was send out to end that madness, including Dolph and Ettore. They all drove to the bank with ear-deafening sirens; while Ettore was driving, Dolph was already loading their pistols. They arrived at the bank, all clad in bulletproof vests and carrying pistols. The robbers immediately burst out of the building upon spotting the unit and opened fire. No time for negotiation. The cops fired back, taking cover behind their cars which became adorned with bullet holes. While shooting bullet at bullet at the robbers, Dolph heard a dull thud next to him. He got down and looked. He would never forget what he saw.

Ettore was lying next to him on the ground with a bullet wound in his forehead.

Dead.

They did manage to overthrow the robbers and free the hostages, but for Dolph, there was no reason to celebrate. Ettore was dead. He knew it was all part of the job, but... goddamn it, he didn't deserve to die! It was raining on the day of the funeral. It was for the first time in years that Kaitlyn saw her husband cry.

'Look, Ziggler...' McMahon said. 'I know what you're thinking right now and I agree, Langston's death was a tragic one. He was a great guy, we all know that. But it's time to move on, you know that right? I've given you the time to grieve, but now it's time for you to have a new partner.'

The blonde detective nodded. 'Right.'

'Very well then. You two get out now, you've got plenty to do.'

Dolph and Miz got up from their seats and left the office. The detective let out a sigh. Fine then. He was going to try his best to put up with this arrogant sack of shit. They didn't have to get along, as long as they were able to work together at least. The Chief was sort of right, too. He couldn't dwell in the past any longer, it was time to move on. He would give Ettore's memory a place in his heart and continue with his life and career.

'Just leave everything to me, alright?' Miz said as they walked through the hallway. 'I will get every filthy scumbag off of these streets in no time, you'll see! I'm awesome at doing that!'

'Yeah, sure...' Dolph mumbled. God, they weren't even teamed up together for fifteen minutes and he already wanted to punch him in the face. Suddenly, his cell phone went off. Dolph got it out of his pocket and picked up the call.

'Hello?'

Miz couldn't hear clearly what the person on the other line was saying, but judging by the look on the detective's face... it was some serious business.

'Alright. We'll be there soon.' After saying that, Dolph cancelled the guy and put his cell phone back in his pocket. 'We've gotta go.'

'What's going on?' Miz asked when they quickly walked down the stairs. He was more than eager to go after some bad guys.

'They have found the body of a woman near an apartment complex. I will drive, I know the address.'

Somehow, the detective could feel in his guts that the 'virgin killer' had made his next victim...


	17. Is It Over Now?

**Chapter 17**

**Is It Over Now?**

A freaking miracle must've happened, it had to be.

Bayley had been staying up last night for hours, frightfully waiting for the strange shadows to make their next move. She was ready to flee out of her apartment like a bat out of hell, she was still dressed in the dress she wore when she went to the park with Sami when she went to her bed, prepared for whenever she had to make a run for it. She would spend a night on the streets if necessary, she refused to let Sami and Alexa get involved into this and get hurt because of her. The young woman hoped they would forgive her for this one day. She did and always would appreciate the things they did for her, she really did. Were they resenting her now, thinking that she was being ungrateful? Bayley didn't want to look like that, honest to God, she only wanted her friends to be safe. She didn't know what would be worse... Alexa or Sami resenting her. She trusted Alexa, it would be horrible to lose a good friend like her. And Sami... her stomach became as warm as the son when the redhead entered her mind. If she would lose both of them, she would feel even more helpless and desperate than ever.

Staring at the ceiling while lying in her bed, Bayley was fully alert. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, which felt like an eternity for her. The smallest sound, no matter how soft it sounded, would be enough to jump out of her bed and run like the devil himself was chasing her. But miraculously... nothing happened! It was so hard to believe it, but this had been the most peaceful night she had in a while. It was completely silent in the apartment, not even a squeak was heard. As the hours ticked by, Bayley lowered her guards down more and more. She felt the sleepiness kicking in, she struggled to fight it, but she couldn't help it. Everything seemed so... safe. After four hours of staying awake, Bayley finally gave into the tiredness and fell asleep.

When she woke up the next morning, she immediately sat up, looking around her with her eyes stinging from the few hours of sleep. Nothing had been moved in her bedroom, not even for an inch; even her plush dog was still lying next to her in bed. But it was still too early for the young woman to celebrate... She carefully got out of her bed and slowly opened the bedroom door. She peeked inside the living room, her eyes inspecting every spot there was; it looked safe. Bayley exited the bedroom and immediately started inspecting her entire apartment. She checked the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and even the balcony; but there was nothing strange to find. No shadows were seen anywhere in the apartment, not on the floor, nor the ceiling. Nothing had been stolen either.

Did the shadows decide to stop making her life into a living nightmare?

My God... was it over?

Was it really over?

It was like a crushing weight fell off from Bayley's shoulders. She couldn't believe it... did the stalking really stop? Tears of relief welled up in the corners of her eyes, she was so happy. Her head felt like spinning, but it wasn't because she was about to faint, no. It was because euphoria completely clouded her mind. She was free, she had her life back!

Bayley couldn't wait to tell this to Alexa and Sami. After she prepared herself a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, she sat down on the couch and turned on her laptop; since her cell phone was crushed during the car crash, the only ways to contact her friends for now was through e-mail or Skype. The young woman took a few mouthfuls of cereal before logging in on her Skype account. And much to her surprise, Alexa was online. Bayley clicked on her profile and clicked the button for the video chat. Almost immediately, the request was answered.

'Bayley!' Alexa exclaimed in surprise when she saw her friend on the webcam. She wasn't wearing any make-up, she must've woken up just now. 'Is everything alright?'

Bayley nodded, her face beaming with happiness. 'Alexa... I think it stopped!'

'Wait, hold on... you mean that those shadows are gone?'

'Nothing happened last night... as if they decided to stop!'

'Are you serious? Did you do something to make them go away?'

'No, they just didn't show up last night.'

'That's kind of strange... but if that's indeed true, then it's a freaking relief, Bayley!'

'You're dang right it is!' Suddenly, the young woman's smile disappeared from her face. 'Hey... Alexa?'

'Yeah?'

'I... I'm sorry if I have upset you and Sami when I told you to stay away from me... Can you forgive me for that?'

'Well yeah, of course!' Alexa smiled. 'Now that this whole mess is over, things can finally go back to normal! And now that you mentioned Sami...'

'What?'

'Sami had told me yesterday that he went to the city park with you to cheer you up, but guess what else he said...' The smile on Alexa's face had now become playful.

'Well, what did he say?' Bayley could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest as hundreds of butterflies fluttered around in her stomach.

'He said that you could be the woman he wanted to grow old with.'

Bayley was absolutely speechless. Grinning from ear to ear and her cheeks bright red, she covered her mouth with her hands, like a little kid who was about to meet Santa Clause in the mall. 'Oh my gosh, did he really say that?!'

'He sure did! I knew you two were going to end up as a couple one day!' Alexa laughed. 'Matchmaker Alexa, at your service!'

'Thanks a lot, matchmaker! How much do you charge for this successful attempt?'

'Hey, it's all for free, sweety!'

'Wait a minute... oh crap!'

'What is it?'

'I forgot I have to go to work today! I have to hurry! Gotta go, sorry! And you please tell Sami that the stalking is over?'

'It's alright. Have a nice day! Sure! And let's hope those creepy shadows won't ever show up again.'

'Dang right. Bye, Glitter Girl!'

'See you later, Huglife!'

Bayley cancelled the call, shut off the laptop and ran to her bedroom to get changed for another day of work. Despite the hurry, she felt absolutely wonderful. She finally had her life back, she was going to get her friends back and who knows... perhaps she could start a relationship with Sami.

But as sweet as the young woman was... she was way too naive.

* * *

The camera flashed with a bright, brief light as the member of the forensic team took a photograph from the body of the dead woman.

She was lying on the concrete, just a few meters away from the canal. Her blood had turned freezing cold, giving her skin a ghastly pale shade. Her mouth was slightly opened, her eyes rolled in the back of her head; truly a frightening sight for anybody. She looked like she was in her early twenties. Such a shame, she still had an entire future in front of her. A small golden cross was attached to her thin golden necklace; looks like the big guy upstairs couldn't prevent her young life being taken by some sick bastard.

She was picked up by two men wearing white suits and gloves and put inside a body bag, which they zipped shut, ready to take her to Sandow for examination. The crime scene was taped off with the well-known yellow tape from the police; the bright color attracted many people, from people passing by to journalists, all eager to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

'Let's hope Sandow will find something.' Dolph mumbled as he put a cigarette between his lips, covering it with one hand while the other hand held his lighter close to the tip of the cigarette. But the detective was pretty sure that this young woman, this poor unfortunate woman, was a virgin, just like the previous four women. If that was indeed so, the people of this city had all the right to know that there was a serial killer on the loose; a sick fuck who targeted young virgins and killed them most likely for his own twisted pleasure. Hopefully Sandow could find a trace on her body, no matter how small it would be, it could possibly lead to the bastard who killed these innocent women. All that Dolph wanted to do right now was arrest that freak and throw his ass behind bars, where he would rot for many years. But what if Sandow couldn't find yet again any traces on this woman's body? It would only make the case more frustrating, that was for sure. Dolph could already imagine the headlines if this woman would have the same trait as the others; the journalists would most likely call it the 'Virgin Murders', striking fear in the hearts of every virgin in this city. But then again, the people had the right to know.

'It's a real shame...' Miz said as they watched the ambulance in which the body of the woman had been loaded into drive away. 'She must've been hot as hell when she was still alive.'

'For God's sake, Miz! Show some respect for the dead, will you?'

'What? I'm just saying...'

Dolph shook his head in disbelief as he deeply inhaled the smoke. This guy was unbelievable, he didn't even have humility for a victim of a gruesome crime.

The results of the autopsy returned later that day and it was just like the blonde detective had expected. This innocent woman had become the fifth victim to the 'Virgin Murders'.


	18. Ready To Strike

**Chapter 18**

**Ready To Strike**

Foolish humans... as if they would find anything here.

If their shadowy forms had a mouth, Viktor and Konnor would be grinning from ear to ear now. Hiding in the shadows of the abandoned factory near the canal where their newest victim had been found, members of the forensic team had entered the factory to look for evidence that could lead to the woman's murderer. Well, in this case it was safe to say that there were two killers, but right now those fools were believing that one person was responsible for the murders. The bright circles from the flashlights glided over the dusty interior of the factory. Due to being unkept for years, thick layers of dust had covered the machines, production lines, staircases, computers and lamps. Vandals had thrown bricks through the windows, allowing the cold wind to flow through the factory and taking small bits of dust along with it. Rust had colored most of the iron in this place in a dark brown shade. A place like this would be uncomfortable, perhaps even frightening for a normal human being. But for the two demons, they felt like they were right at home.

Merged with the shadows of the factory, they watched as the forensic team searched every spot inside the factory, evening opening the rusted, dented lockers in the hope of finding some evidence. They searched area for two hours straight, but couldn't find a single clue. It was one of Konnor's and Viktor's specialties; whenever they made their victim, they made sure they would never find out the cause of death... or whoever did this. The deaths of those worthless bitches would forever remain a mystery. And even if they did touch their prey, it was impossible to find the fingerprints; both demons lacked them, a common trait for their kind. Sucking out a person's life force wouldn't leave any traces, no internal damage, no bruises, nothing.

The police was completely powerless in solving these mysterious murders.

After two full hours of frantic searching through the entire factory, the members of the forensic team were forced to accept defeat; there was nothing to find here. Their search here had come to a dead end. Packing their equipment, they left the factory while uttering their disappointment. The two demons decided to stay in the shadows for a little while longer, making sure the humans would be out of sight. The coast was clear, nobody could be seeing, nor hearing them now. Their shadowy bodies disconnected themselves from the shadow, transforming in their most human form.

'Finally... I thought those idiots were never going to leave.' Konnor groaned, stretching his neck; this caused his neck to produce a loud cracking noise.

'Yes, they were quite persistent...' Viktor shook his head and grinned. 'But those fools will never find us.'

Suddenly, the taller demon darkly sniggered.

'What's so funny?' Viktor asked, cocking his eyebrow.

'You were such a mess, it was impossible for you to control yourself. Admit it already, Viktor... you want to kill that little bitch at the first chance you get. You don't want to wait any longer.'

Last night, Viktor's body was practically screaming to feed on the life force of that woman. The demons had been tormenting her for three days now and it didn't take too long for her to finally break. They learned her name after she escaped from the elevator they had tampered with, just to strike fear into her heart for the first time; it was 'Bayley'. Bayley... such a lovely name for a woman who would become a demon's victim. Watching the pure fear on her face when they tormented her at her friend's apartment gave them nothing more but delight. She was so foolish when she thought she was safe by hiding somewhere else... how naive. The demons could trace her aura easily; she could hide in the most remote place of the world if she wanted, Viktor and Konnor would always be able to find her. She screamed for her friend that night, but they got away just in time before she burst into the bedroom. However, the two demons didn't want to leave just yet; merging themselves with the shadow in a corner of the ceiling, they watched as the petite woman did her best to comfort their hysterical prey. Viktor remembered exactly how the woman looked like; she had long platinum blonde hair with blue tips, an innocent face and a slim body. Quite some attractive features, Viktor thought. But he, nor Konnor couldn't see the white aura around her.

Last night, they decided to go back to Bayley's apartment to mentally torture her once more when the ponytailed demon felt a nearly agonizing hunger creeping up. Well, at least if felt like hunger to him. He needed to feed on a virgin's life force, the hunger was almost driving him mad. Then, suddenly, he felt the energy of the aura he and his companion had searched for so much during these time. And it was coming straight from the direction where the city's canal was. Viktor couldn't control his urge any longer. In a fit of blind hunger, he rushed into that direction in his shadow form with a dazzling speed, followed by Konnor. Once again, they used the darkness of the city to their advantage. The demons didn't have to travel far, though. And there she was, walking right next to the canal, all on her own. A young woman with a purest trait a woman could ever possess... her life force ready to increase his own strength.

She didn't see him coming.

Once he was behind her, Viktor immediately transformed into his human form, grabbed the woman firmly by the shoulders, roughly turned her around and opened his mouth, mentally forcing her to do the same thing. Completely powerless in the demon's powerful grip and her mind under his control, the defenseless, terrified woman didn't have a choice. She didn't even fully open her mouth yet, but the demon already started to suck the life force out of her. All she could do was making soft whimpering noises as she could feel her head becoming lighter and lighter... After Viktor had fully consumed the life force for his own, he finally let go of the woman; her dead body hit the ground with a loud thud.

'I didn't know you could be so damn selfish...' Konnor chuckled, shaking his head. He sounded like he was amused, but in fact, he wasn't for one bit. 'You have consumed that bitch's life force all for your own, leaving me out of it. We both need it, remember?'

'Of course I remember that!' Viktor snarled. 'What do you think I am, stupid?!'

'If we want to defeat him together, we have to work together!'

Viktor didn't say anything for a moment, as if he was thinking about what he was going to say next. 'Fine then.' he mumbled.

'What do you mean?'

'We will kill her tonight. She has already been terrified enough... she's ready to give us the strength we need.'

The taller demon sinisterly grinned from ear to ear. 'Fucking finally, Viktor... I thought you were never going to say that.'


	19. Escape While You Can

**Chapter 19**

**Escape While You Can**

While lying down on the couch and watching TV, Bayley realized this had to be the most relaxing night she had after a long time.

She had just finished her dinner, salmon and some salad with honey-mustard dressing; her favorite dish. A while ago, she would be unable to take a single bite from this and hold it down in her stomach, she was that scared. Though she had to admit she was a little bit nervous when she went back to her work this morning by taxi; yesterday she didn't show up at work, she didn't even give her employer a phone call stating the reason why she wasn't coming. Hell, was he even going to believe her if she told him she was too scared to go to work because two creepy shadows with a life of their own were making her life a living nightmare? No, she would look like a total lunatic and her employer would fire her right away. When Bayley met him in the store, she made up an excuse, possibly the most used excuse ever; she was sick that day and forgot to tell him about it. Her employer was a bit disgruntled, but luckily he believed her. But he warned her that if she would ever do something like that again, she would be fired. Bayley really didn't want that to happen; she needed this job, she needed the money.

After working time, the young woman had decided to stay in the shopping mall a little longer to check out the cell phones in the phone shop. She needed to get a new cell phone, which she planned to get this morning. Luckily she had brought the right amount of money with her to get a new, proper cell phone. However, at home, she had to re-install all her apps and contacts. The memory card had been crushed along with her previous phone, which made it pretty sad because she had a lot of precious photos on it, like the photos she took when she went clubbing in another city with Alexa one time or when she was having a family dinner during Christmas. They were never going to be retrieved again... that was quite saddening. She also needed a new car; hopefully she would have enough money for that too.

Bayley had finally re-installed everything. Turning down the volume of the TV, she wanted to call the person who managed to make her smile again.

Sami.

She wanted him back in her life again. It was so hard for her to say those harsh words for him back in the pizzeria. But now that this was all over, they could continue their friendship. Well, friendship... For Bayley, she felt just a bit more than just 'friendship' for the bearded redhead and judging from the Skype call she had earlier today with Alexa, Sami was feeling the same way. Being loved back by the person you have a crush on... it was one of the best feelings in the world. Bayley searched for Sami's phone number, touched the screen and pressed her cell phone against her ear. With her heart beating rapidly in her chest, she couldn't wait to hear her crush's voice again.

It didn't take long for Sami to answer her call.

'Hello?'

Bayley's heart made a little jump in joy. 'Hey Sami, it's Bayley!'

'Oh, hey! Is everything alright over there? Do I need to come over?'

'No no no, not at all, I'm fine... I think the shadows are gone, Sami!'

'What? Really?'

'Yeah, really! They didn't appear last night... maybe they finally had enough and decided to leave me alone!'

'God, I really hope so, Bayley...'

'Sami?'

'Yes?'

'I'm... I'm really sorry when I told you to leave me alone. I know you meant well with what you did for me. I do appreciate everything you have done for me, I always will... And now that all of this is over we could... well... could we maybe start all over again?'

'Hey, forgive and forget, that's what I always say. I'm glad that this is all over, seriously. I had been so worried about you, Bayley... I... would do anything to make you happy.'

'You... you would?'

'Of course. I care about you, Bayley. I care more about you than anything else in this world.'

The ponytailed woman could feel all her blood rushing towards her cheeks. Oh my gosh, she was absolutely speechless!

'Hello? Are you still there?'

'O-oh, yeah, I'm here.'

'Ah, good. Say, do you want to hang out again tomorrow?'

'Yeah, sure!' Again, Bayley's heart made another jump in joy.

'I know a nice restaurant near where I live, maybe we could have lunch over there?'

'Alright, I can try to get off work a little bit earlier.'

'I will try too. The restaurant it called the 'Golden Heart', ever heard of it?'

'Yeah, I think so. It's near the mall, I think.'

'I will pick you up at the time you can get out, alright?'

'Okay, thanks! See you tomorrow, Sami!'

'Awesome, I can't wait for it! Bye, Bayley!'

Immediately after the call was ended, the young woman giggled uncontrollably like a little girl. Her cheeks were fire red. My goodness, she couldn't believe it! They were going on a second date! And who knows... maybe at the end of this date they could become an official couple. Slightly biting her lower lip, Bayley could already picture it all; her and Sami having a nice, romantic lunch outside on the terrace of the restaurant in the bright, warm sun. He would suddenly put his hand on top of hers, gently squeezing it like he did before and asking her if she wanted to be his girlfriend. She would say yes, without a doubt. Sami was so much different than all the other boys she had dated in the past, this relationship would be different as well. It was like something straight out of a romantic movie... This was so crazy!

Turning up the volume of the TV, the young woman shifted her attention back to the series she was watching. She tried to keep up with what happened with the characters, but that was nearly impossible for her; Sami was now completely clouding her mind. God, she finally had her life back and tomorrow she was going to celebrate that by lunching with Sami! She felt absolutely amazing.

The episode of the series was soon coming to an end and Bayley had no idea of what had happened. She grabbed the remote control and changed channel after channel, but nothing really caught her eye. Maybe she could go to bed a bit earlier tonight, since she didn't get much sleep last night... and if she would do that, tomorrow would come sooner. Bayley was about to turn the TV off when suddenly she heard her cell phone producing a brief, cheerful jingle. She picked it up and checked the screen. It was a text. Who could it possibly be? Alexa, or maybe Sami? The ponytailed woman touched the screen, opening the text.

_'Thought it was all over, little bitch?'_

Bayley's eyes widened in sheer horror.

Her heart immediately sank to her feet.

A huge pain developed inside her stomach, as if she had swallowed an entire boulder.

All her blood rushed away from her face.

The joy she had felt earlier faded away in the blink of an eye, replacing it with fear.

Pure fear.

It was the same 'number', it were the same dead pixels. The chill that ran over her spine weighed a ton, it was almost painful. Her hands were trembling as she read the threatening text over and over again. It wasn't over... it hadn't ended at all! Oh dear God, how could she had been so damn naive?! She wanted to believe she was safe, she wanted to believe the shadows were gone forever! Bayley noticed she was on the verge of hyperventilating, losing control over her breathing bit by bit.

Just then, the light in her apartment started flickering.

Oh no.

God, no.

Within less than a second, right on that moment, the power inside the apartment went out, leaving Bayley in complete darkness and suffocating fear. The young woman screamed in horror as she realized what could most likely happen next. 'No! No no no, God, please, no!' she whimpered. She couldn't see anything, the silence inside the apartment fueled her fear only more. The shadows... the shadows were back and they were inside her apartment, it had to be! They were the ones who tampered with the power, just like they did last time! Oh God, what were they going to do now?! With trembling hands, Bayley grabbed her cell phone, the screen illuminating brightly as she turned it on. There was no signal, making it impossible for the terrified woman to call for help. Bayley thought she was going to throw up, she was so scared. She decided to use the light from her cell phone as a flashlight, carefully aiming the faint light at her surroundings. It was completely silent in the apartment, if the sounds of Bayley's rapidly beating heart and her breathing didn't count. She slowly moved the light, letting it glide over the dark surroundings.

Where were they... where the hell were they?!

Somebody behind Bayley roughly grabbed her hair and started pulling it with all the strength he had. The young woman let out a loud yelp of pain and dropped her cell phone; it fell on the ground with a soft thud. She desperately clawed at the hand, trying to break free from the grip. But the shadowy 'man' behind her refused to let go, only pulling her hair harder. The pain forced her to get up on her feet while she still tried to get free, screaming for help.

'Aaah! Somebody help me, please!' Bayley screamed, tears of fear flowing down her face.

Just then, the shadowy 'man' pushed her away from him, finally letting go of her hair. Bayley fell on the ground, sobbing hysterically. She sat up and looked around her, her scalp was hurting so much.

Two men chuckled in the darkness; it were the same voices she heard when she was attacked at Alexa's place.

'Who... who are you...?' the ponytailed woman whimpered. 'What do you want?!'

A hand grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to get on her feet once more. Bayley let out a strangled scream as all her oxygen was cut off. But the strangulation only lasted for two seconds; her assailant send her flying against the wall behind her, her skull almost cracking due to the impact. Bayley gasped for air as she fell the ground, but there was no time to care of her aching head which felt spinning due to the pain; she had to get out of here, right now! She heavily struggled to stand up, her legs were trembling like crazy. With adrenaline pumping through her body, she made a run for it to the door. Escaping by climbing off the balcony was no option; she lived on the third floor, falling would mean injury or even worse. No, right now the door was her only chance of escape.

She could almost touch the doorknob with her fingertips, she was so close...

Just as Bayley could taste the liberation on the tip of her tongue, two pairs of hands grabbed her by the ankles, causing her to fall on the ground and dragged her away from the door.

'No! No no no! Let go of me!' she screamed, leaving scratch marks on the floor as she tried to get away. She violently jerked with her legs to break free from the hands, but they wouldn't let go of her. Bayley continued to jerk her legs as hard as she could. Suddenly, one pair of hands lost their grip on her right ankle, letting go of it. But Bayley still wasn't free yet; someone was still holding her left ankle. The young woman didn't hesitate for a moment and started kicking at her attackers with her right foot. She felt she hit something, perhaps one of the attackers. She heard a pained grunt; so she did hit one of them. Immediately after that kick, the other pair of hands let go of her left ankle as well. Bayley quickly got up on her feet and ran back to the door as fast as she could, practically ripping it open. The door hit the wall with a loud bang as the young woman escaped her apartment. She ran to the stairs; the elevator was quite slow, if she would take that she would be caught for sure. She nearly tripped over her own feet when she ran down the stairs, nearly sending her falling. But she quickly got back up and continued to run. Her heart was pounding in her head, her lungs were burning. Finally, Bayley arrived at the lowest floor, opened the exit door of the apartment complex and leapt outside to the streets.

For a little moment, she stopped, looking left and right, the fear-fueled adrenaline completely taking over her body. Where the hell could she possibly go? She didn't care, as long as she could shake off her attackers. She decided to go left, running as if her life depended on it. Some people were passing her by, looking at her if she was crazy. But Bayley barely noticed those people around her, she looked behind her to check if the shadows were following her. But she couldn't see them anywhere... did she lose them? However, it didn't do anything to calm her down; they could still be following her! The adrenaline mixed with the fear caused black spots to cloud Bayley's sight, nearly blinding her.

Just then, she heard a car stopping next to her, followed by the sound of a window being lowered down.

'Bayley?!'

The familiar voice made the young woman stop running. Looking to her right, her heart heavily cringed in relief, making it almost painful. Sami had stopped his car right next to her, his face expressing surprise. Thank God, he was here!

'Sami!' Bayley exclaimed with a hoarse voice. She ran towards the passenger's side of the car, but nearly got hit by another car that got around Sami's car, the driver honking furiously. The young woman opened the car's door and got in, slamming the door shut.

'What's going on?! What happened?!' Sami asked, overwhelmed by all of this. In the light of the car, he noticed how pale his love interest's face was. As if she had seen a ghost.

'Drive!' Bayley screamed at the top of her lungs, almost hyperventilating at this point. There was no time to explain, she had to get out of here, now! 'Drive, goddamn it, drive!'

The redhead didn't have to ask again. Immediately he stomped the gas pedal with his foot. The car drove away with screeching tires, as if the devil himself was chasing them.


	20. Stay With Me

**Chapter 20**

**Stay With Me**

She still couldn't believe it... God, she was on the verge of going insane. Tightly wrapping the blanket around her, a traumatized Bayley was still trembling from the aftermath of her escape.

After she had gotten into Sami's car, the redhead drove immediately to his home on the other side of the city. Just like her and Alexa, he lived in an apartment complex, on the first floor. During the car ride, the bearded redhead asked Bayley what the hell had happened, but she was too frightened to answer the question, sobbing hysterically for the rest of the time. Sami had parked his car at the apartment complex's parking lot, but Bayley was even too scared to get out of the car, needing Sami's help to put her foot on the concrete. Putting his arm around her, the redhead guided her towards the apartment complex; during the walk, the ponytailed woman looked around her with big, frightened eyes, her body trembling like a leaf. Sami wondered what the hell had happened in that apartment, Jesus Christ, he had never seen anybody being this scared in his entire life. For a moment, Sami thought his crush was going to lose her freaking mind right here on this parking lot. He had to get her inside, right away. When they got inside the apartment complex, Bayley pleaded between the sobbing to take the stairs; the trauma of the malfunctioning elevator would most likely haunt her for life. Sami's apartment was on the first floor. Inside the apartment, the redhead helped her to sit down on his faux-leather couch, grabbed a red and green checkered blanket from behind one of the couch's pillows and draped it around her, trying his absolute best to calm her down.

Witnessing Bayley being this scared had to be the most heartbreaking thing he had experienced in his life.

'Damn it!' the redhead hissed after he cancelled the call on his phone. 'All the lines are being used!' They had to report this to the police, this madness has lasted long enough. Bayley needed help, and he was more than willing to help her. But much to his dismay, he heard the operator report on the other side of the line that all available lines were used at the right moment. So much for justice.

'It's alright, Sami...' Bayley softly spoke on the couch. 'They wouldn't believe me anyway if I told them what attacked me...' The interior of Sami's apartment slightly calmed her down. The apartment did indeed look like it was decorated by a young man who had traveled to many countries and enjoyed life to the fullest; the walls were decorated with photos taken at the most breathtaking locations along with some vinyl plates and posters of indie movies. Sami even managed to find a spot on the wall to attach an old electric guitar on it. The surroundings looked pleasant for Bayley.

Sami shook his head. 'Don't say that, Bay.' The redhead sat down next to her and gently rubbed her back. 'They take reports like this very serious these days.'

'Yeah, but if I tell them that I had to escape my home because two shadows attacked me out of nowhere, they will lock me up in the loony bin for sure.'

'Hold on... you said those shadows were gone earlier today... you mean that they came back?'

The ponytailed woman nodded, ready to break into tears at any second.

'Oh no... goddamn it...' Sami covered his mouth with his hand and shook his head.

'I can't believe I've been so naive, Sami...' Bayley voice was breaking. 'I wanted to believe the stalking was over so badly... God, I was so stupid to think that.'

'Don't call yourself stupid, you're far from that...'

Bayley sniggered, the first tear escaping the corner of her eye and on its way down her cheek. 'It's almost funny, actually... When I was a little girl, I always believed my mom and dad when they told me that monsters didn't exist. I believed it... until the monsters I feared so much throughout my childhood decided to stalk me and almost killed me.'

Just then, in the light of the lamp near the couch, Sami noticed the dark blue bruises on Bayley's pale neck. It almost startled him; those shadows must've wanted to hurt her a lot when they were trying to kill her.

'Jesus Christ, those bastards...' the redhead whispered in awe, suppressing his rage; those abominations had to pay for hurting her. 'Hold on, I'll get some ice for you.'

He got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen. Bayley heard the bearded redhead opening the fridge and searching for the pack of ice he wanted to give to her to press against her bruises. Ah, Sami... her knight in shining armor. The ponytailed woman managed to crack a very tiny smile. Sami had always been there for her, he tried his best to make her happy during this dark time and he had even promised her he would protect her. Sweet Sami, lovely Sami... Even his freaking name was sweet and warm.

Sami came back from the kitchen, holding a pack of ice in his hand. He walked back to the couch, sat down next to Bayley and gently pressed the cold pack against her neck. The cold coming from the plastic made Bayley slightly jump, but she quickly got used to it.

'There you go...' Sami spoke with a soothing tone in his voice. 'How are you feeling now?' After asking that, he mentally slapped himself on the forehead; what a stupid question to ask, she must still be terrified out of her mind right now! She was attacked and nearly killed by two fucked up shadows, of course she wasn't going to feel any better any time soon! But no matter how scared she was... he would always be there for her. Always.

'Honestly... I... I feel like I'm going to lose it, Sami.' She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Bayley finally broke down, tears flowed down her face and dripped off her jaw line. Sami wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him, allowing her to cry out against his body. Bayley clenched her fists into Sami's shirt and nuzzled her teary face against his shoulder. Sami's body odor was a mix between deodorant and a faint hint of sweat; a unique smell, it was just him. Bayley's tears slightly soaked his shirt, but Sami didn't seem to mind it. He rubbed her back, giving her the comfort she needed so much. 'What did I ever do to deserve this?' the ponytailed woman sobbed.

'Nothing. You did nothing to deserve something this horrible, sweetheart.' Sami pressed his lips on Bayley's head, giving her a gentle kiss. The kind of kiss a lover would give to his significant other to calm her down.

Upon feeling the kiss on her head, Bayley let out a soft gasp and looked up. She blinked her teary eyes in surprise. She stared at him in complete surprise, not uttering a single word. But after a short while, the corners of her mouth slowly curled into a small smile as a soft blush emerged from her cheeks.

'It's going to be alright, Bayley... Trust me...' Sami smiled, happy that the soothing kiss had a positive reaction. He wanted to comfort her and at the same time... he wanted to show her what he was really feeling for her. While his hand gently stroked her head, his other hand brushed the tears off her cheeks. 'You're not going to lose your mind, I'm going to make sure of that. Those bastards won't hurt you any longer, I'm not afraid of fighting them if I have to. We will go through this together, alright? I promise you, I won't leave your side for a second.'

'Sami...'

'You are special to me, Bayley, which I why I want to protect you. You are so much different than the other girls I have ever met. You are sweet, funny and... beautiful. Really beautiful. During the time we have spend together, I have started to feel more and more for you. You became more than just a friend to me. I'm convinced that you are the one I want to grow old with. I love you, Bayley. I love you with all my heart.'

Bayley smiled from ear to ear. Dear God, he said it... he really said it! Her feelings for Sami had finally been answered, she felt like she was floating. The fear faded away as thousands of butterflies wildly fluttered around in her stomach.

'I... I love you too, Sami.'

She felt the same way about him... it was a dream coming true! Sami thought he was going to explode with happiness. He slightly lifted Bayley's chin, his face moving closer to hers. Hundreds of fireworks exploded into bright colors in front of Bayley's eyes as their lips finally met for the first time. The redhead's lips were warm and soft, just like his personality. His beard slightly tickled against her skin, but that didn't matter at all. Bayley let out a tiny hum of happiness and closed her eyes, giving into the kiss. Her cheeks were fire red, she thought they were going to catch fire at any moment. She wrapped her arms around Sami's neck, deepening the kiss more. God, she wanted this to go on forever. The sheer anxiety she felt earlier faded away like the last bit of snow in the early spring, the kiss had taken all her misery away. Sami loved her, it was enough to make her world light up again...

Her lips were slightly trembling of happiness, he could feel it on his. Dear God, he loved this woman so much. She was the one, he was sure of it. He wanted to stay by her side forever and ever, not even those shadows could rip him away from her. Sami slowly traveled his hands up and down her back as they continued the kiss. Yes, he was going to protect her, forever and ever. There was no way in hell he was going to give up on her. His hands reached her lower back, but when he traveled his hands back up again, he accidently pulled up her shirt for a little bit, his pink touching the bare skin on her lower back.

Bayley slightly jumped at the sudden touch, parting her lips with Sami's as she let out a soft gasp.

'What's the matter?' Sami asked. Just then, he realized what he had done; by accidently pulling up her shirt a bit, it looked like he wanted to take it off. 'O-oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that!' he stammered.

'It's alright...' Bayley answered softly. 'It's just that... I'm getting nervous when it comes to... you know...'

'Oh, I see...' the redhead nodded understandingly. 'So you're still a...?'

Bayley chuckled awkwardly. 'Yup. Even at this age, I'm still a virgin.'

'Hey, that's all fine with me.' Sami replied with a reassuring smile. 'No need to rush anything. Just take your time, there's nothing to be ashamed about. I won't force you to do it if you're not ready, okay?'

'Thanks, Sami... That's really sweet of you, it really is.'

Then Bayley let out a soft yawn. 'Hey... What time is it?'

Sami checked his watch. 'It's half past eleven already. Do you want to go to sleep?'

'Yeah, pretty much...'

'You can sleep in my bed if you want, I can sleep on the couch.'

'Oh no no, that's alright!' Bayley shook her head. 'You don't have to do that because of me, I don't mind sleep sleeping on the couch.' She patted the faux-leather. 'It's actually quite a comfortable one.'

Sami briefly laughed. 'You're the first person ever saying that! But... are you sure you want to do that?'

Bayley nodded. 'Yeah.'

'And Bayley...'

'What is it?'

Sami gave her a reassuring smile and gently stroked her cheek. 'You don't have to be afraid of me being harmed.' He pointed at a door across the living room. 'My bedroom is right over there, I will keep the door open so I can keep an eye on you at any moment. I will keep you safe, I promise you that... Do you believe me, Bayley?'

The ponytailed woman smiled a little bit. 'Of course, Sami.' She believed Sami, she honestly did... but she couldn't ignore that anxious feeling in her lower stomach. Sami was going to watch over, that made her feel at least a little bit safer.

Sami pressed a gentle, yet loving kiss on her lips. That had to be the sweetest goodnight kiss she ever had in her entire life...

'Everything is going to be alright.' Sami spoke after he broke the kiss. 'I will protect you. I always will... because you are the love of my life.'


	21. Terrified To Death

**Chapter 21**

**Terrified To Death**

A loud bang coming from Sami's bedroom made Bayley snap out of her dreamless sleep.

She was immediately wide awake, she must have been sleeping for an hour. It had been hard for to fall asleep, but after two hours of tossing and turning, she finally managed to get some shut-eye. The apartment was dark, the only source of light the lamppost near the balcony, outside the apartment; the light dimly illuminated a part of the apartment. Another loud bang was heard, followed by Sami's voice shouting something, causing Bayley to sit right up with a jolt. Her heart was pounding in her head and a trickle of sweat ran down her temple as she feared for the worst. She couldn't exactly hear what he was saying, the door of his bedroom was locked. But didn't he say earlier that he would keep the door open...? Then she finally realized what was going on. It made heavy chills run up and down her spine.

The bangs.

Sami's loud voice.

The closed door.

It could only mean one thing... Oh God.

Those shadows were back. They had found her once more, just like they did when she was staying at Alexa's place. Dear God almighty, they were in the apartment, they had to be! Oh no... Sami! Those noises coming out of his bedroom, the shadows had probably trapped him in there! More bangs were heard from the bedroom, Sami was shouting at the top of his lungs... as if he was being attacked by two wild animals. Listening to those horrifying sounds, Bayley's body started to tremble all over as she clenched her fists into the blanket. Her eyes were widened in fear, it became harder for her to control her breathing by the second. She wanted to go in there, she wanted to help Sami! Her legs were trembling like crazy, but she managed to put her foot on the floor.

But just as Bayley was about to get up from the couch to run towards the bedroom, a choreography of horrors followed. The door of the bedroom was swung open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. The ponytailed woman let out a gasp and pulled her foot back under the blanket; was that Sami opening the door?! Less than a second after the door opened, something big was thrown out of the bedroom, sending it flying through the living room and crashing next to the couch on the floor with a heavy thud. Bayley shrieked, her heart felt like exploding with fear at this point. She heard a soft, pained groan coming from the floor. In the dim light of the lamppost outside the apartment, Bayley saw who was lying next to the couch.

It was Sami.

'Oh God, Sami!' the ponytailed woman screamed in horror. A dark liquid was emerging from his scalp and flowing down his face in a thick stream. It was blood, it had to be blood. The wounded redhead let out another groan, slowly lifted his head and looked at Bayley. Tears of horror welled up in the corner of her eyes as she stared back at him.

'Run... Bayley... run...' Sami whispered with a shaky voice. Then he fell silent, his head hitting the floor.

Was he... was he dead? Oh no, please God, no... Tears trickled down Bayley's cheeks, her body now trembling uncontrollably. She never wanted this to happen, this was all her fault... 'Sami...? Sami!' she whimpered, leaning over and shaking his shoulder. But there was no reaction coming from the redhead, not even a little sigh.

'No... Sami... no...'

Two male voices darkly chuckled in the darkness of the bedroom; it were the same damn voices Bayley heard when she was attacked in her apartment.

She looked up and witnessed how two big shadows emerged from the bedroom, gliding over the floor towards the couch, halting behind Sami's presumed dead body. Paralyzed in fear, Bayley watched as the shadows grew larger, once again taking a humanoid shape. The blackness on their shadowy bodies faded away; the shadows finally revealed their 'human' form to her.

Bayley didn't know what looked more terrifying; their shadow forms, or their human forms, donning black leather shoulders pads and mysterious face paint, giving the two men a nearly demonic appearance.

'Your boyfriend here put up quite a fight...' Viktor said with a sadistic grin, softly kicking Sami's leg. 'But there will be nobody who will protect your sorry ass now, bitch.'

'You bastards!' Bayley yelled with a breaking voice. 'What did you do to him?! What do you want from me?!'

'You've got something that me and my companion Konnor here both want... and we will have it right now. But don't be afraid, you little bitch. It will all be over soon. Your pathetic life will be good for something after all...'

Right on that moment, the ponytailed woman felt the adrenaline kicking in with full force.

She had to get out.

Right now, before she would be killed!

Just as Konnor wanted to grab her to put an early end to her life, she ducked down and leapt off the couch, running towards the balcony as fast as she could. She couldn't escape through the door again, that would be too predictable. If she would do that, these two monsters would catch her for sure. Bayley opened the glass doors that lead to the balcony, thank God Sami didn't close them. The apartment was on the first floor, but Bayley already mentally prepared herself for a rough landing. She got on the balcony, there was no time to look down to see what would catch her fall.

She had no choice.

With the adrenaline pulsing through every vein in her body, Bayley took the leap of faith; she climbed over the railing of the balcony and jumped off. Luckily the bushes that were planted near the apartment broke her fall; twigs poked into her bare arms, some of them were almost sharp enough to cut her skin open. Bayley immediately got out of the bushes and ran like her life depended on it... which actually did. Looking behind her, she saw that the two 'men' had reverted back into their shadow forms and were now gliding down the balcony; they were already halfway the wall of the apartment. Bayley let out a horrified scream and ran faster, more tears of fear running down her face.

There would be a big chance she wouldn't make it to see the following day. She could die right here on the dark streets of this city in the cold night, terrified to death, torn apart by regret of the possible death of the man she loved with all her heart and all alone, at the hands of these monsters. What were they going to do with her if they captured her? They were going to kill her, Bayley was convinced of that. They were going to kill her in the most gruesome way possible, to extend her suffering for a while longer for their twisted amusement. She wasn't sure whether Sami was dead or alive; she wanted to go back, but that would be suicide at this moment. She hoped from the bottom of her heart he was still alive. It was late, there were almost no people on the street. They looked at Bayley as if she was crazy instead of a woman in need. So much for a helping hand these days.

The ponytailed woman looked around her, desperately looking for a place to hide. She didn't care where she would have to hide, as long as she would get rid of those 'men' following her. Everything looked so much different in the dark. She almost never came to this part of the city, she barely knew any place around here.

However, there was a spot here that everybody in this city knew.

The metro, Bayley suddenly remembered. She did travel by that one time, when she just moved to this city. Perhaps she could hide there, metro's were places where there were a lot of people; maybe somebody could help her over there. Or she could blend in there, in the hope of confusing her pursuers. Bayley decided to give it a shot.

But where the hell was that damn metro?

It fueled Bayley's fear only more. She couldn't get lost right now! Either it was a fact or her paranoia, but she could swear to God she could already feel the breath of the shadow men in her neck. She spotted the red and blue neon-sign of an old bar in the distance. Wait a minute... she recognized that sign! She saw that when she got out of the metro the other day, so it meant she was close! During the time she was running for her dear life, Bayley had constantly looked around her, hoping she would've gotten rid of those bastards. But every time when she looked around, she was proven wrong; the shadows were not too far behind her, gliding on the walls of the buildings she ran past by, their huge shapes revealed by the lights of the lampposts. Her legs and lungs were hurting like hell, sweat was running down her face, but the ponytailed woman forced herself to keep going.

When she got close to a crosswalk on a big road, she looked to her left and saw a staircase that led underground; the metro! She had made it! But the question whether she would be safe there or not was still lingering... Bayley didn't hesitate for a moment; she ran to the staircase and went down.

The metro was quite old, but huge. Small, ivory white pieces of stone mixed with red stones and a graffiti tag here and there decorated the place, giving the metro a bit of a haunting look when it was abandoned... just like on this night. Bayley unfortunately found out about that when she was running down the stairs. Her footsteps echoed through the empty metro, giving the impression that it was indeed empty tonight. Oh no, God, why now?!

There had always been one golden rule when escaping... always watch your step.

Bayley had clearly forgotten about that on this moment.

Her foot tripped over the other one, making her lose her balance. Bayley let out a loud gasp as her body fell forward, hitting the stairs with a painful thud, starting her long fall. Letting out a pained yelp, she rolled down the stairs, her body aching whenever she hit a step. A sharp pain traveled through her ankle. Oh no, did she break it?! Not now, please God, not now! If she wasn't going to die at the hand of those shadow men, she would die from a fall down the stairs of the city's metro while trying to escape... faith could be so cruel sometimes. But luckily, Bayley managed to survive the painful fall. She reached the end of the staircase, her body was hurting all over.

But what had to hurt the most was her ankle.

The chance to escape her pursuers and make it through the night alive had become a whole lot smaller...


	22. Deadman

**Chapter 22**

**Deadman**

The world in front of Bayley's eyes looked like it was shaking and spinning at the same time, her ankle was hurting so much.

No... this couldn't be happening right now!

Tears welled up in the ponytailed woman's eyes as she realized her injured ankle could very well mean the end of her. Life could be so cruel, even to the nicest people... an innocent young woman who loved and lived life to the fullest, had the most loving family and greatest friends somebody could ever asked for, had a good job and a nice apartment... only to have all her happiness taken away on the most unfortunate night of her life. For days, she was tormented and haunted by two monstrous shadows, physically and mostly mentally torturing her for their sick amusement, all for the sake of something she didn't know she possessed. What could she possibly have what those twisted bastards wanted? What did she ever do to deserve this kind of fate? This wasn't fair, this was too cruel...

But she couldn't be giving up now.

Bayley didn't want to die, not like this!

She tried her best to fight back the pain, it was nearly killing her. She took a deep breath and let out a slow shaky breath. The ponytailed woman braced herself and tried to get on her feet. But as soon as she put pressure on both her ankles, the pain multiplied by tenfold, skyrocketing from agonizing to hellish. Bayley let out a shriek of pain and collapsed back to the tile floor. Tears of pain were now rolling down her cheeks. Her ankle had to be broken, she had never experienced so much pain in her life before. Her tears dripped off her jaw line, dripping onto the floor.

'No... why...?' she softly sobbed to herself.

With her ankle in shambles, the chance she would escape from those shadow men had gone from small to impossible. They could find her at any moment now, they wouldn't hesitate to close in on her and kill her in cold blood. It wouldn't last long now... If Bayley still wanted to try to escape, she could do only one thing right now. This would be her last stand. In a final desperate attempt to escape her gruesome fate, the ponytailed woman crawled over the floor, like a wounded soldier on the battlefield. Sobbing uncontrollably and feeling more powerless than ever, she tried to crawl towards the railroad in the hope of managing to hide over there. The metro was completely abandoned, there wasn't even a single train on the railroad... and nobody was going to help her. Trying to hide in the metro was possibly the greatest mistake of her life.

Suddenly, Bayley stopped crawling.

Her heart had dropped to her feet as her blood ran cold.

They were here.

They had found her and were standing right behind her, she was convinced of it. She slowly turned her head around, her eyes widened in fear and softly whimpering in fear.

Her hunch was proven right, much to her horror.

Grinning from ear to ear in the eeriest way ever, Konnor and Viktor were standing right behind her, near the stairs. It was very likely they had been watching her crawl all this time, much to their sadistic glee. Bayley whimpered in fear, more tears flowed down her face.

'Just give up already, you foolish woman.' Konnor said. 'You will never escape us.' The two demons walked towards their victim, their eyes were staring straight into her soul. Paralyzed with fear, Bayley watched as they got closer to her. She wanted to run again, but escape was impossible for her now. She was completely incapacitated, all because of her own recklessness. Even if her ankle wasn't broken, she still couldn't escape; her legs felt numb due to the suffocating fear.

'There's one little thing that made you different from our previous victims, though...' Viktor said. 'Out of all of them, you have ran the fastest.' The raven-haired demon cruelly laughed about his own joke.

'Please... leave me alone...' Bayley whimpered. A bit of sensation miraculously returned to her arms; she tried to crawl away for a bit longer. However, the demons couldn't find any more 'entertainment' in this. They were impatient, they were tired of hunting her down.

'Stop your pathetic resistance already!' Viktor snarled. He reached Bayley and stomped her with his boot on the shoulder, making her fall on her back and scream out in pain. Realizing that there was no point in attempting to get away now, Bayley clenched her eyes shut, sobbing hysterically.

'Oh God... please, no...'

'You can cry all you want...' Konnor said, standing next to Viktor. 'There's nobody who will hear you. It's just only you and us, bitch.'

The two demons roughly grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to stand up. Once again, the agonizing pain in her ankle flared up, making her let out another loud shriek of pain. She struggled to break free from her attackers' grip, but it was too strong. She didn't stand a single chance against her.

'Let go of me!' she screamed. 'Help me! Please! Somebody, help me!'

'Scream all you want!' Viktor laughed. 'Your desperation will make your life force taste even better!'

'Wait... what did you say?' Bayley asked in shock. 'My... life force? Was that what you wanted from me?!'

'I guess you're not that stupid as I thought you were...' the raven-haired demon replied. 'Now hold still, this will all be over soon...'

Viktor and Konnor opened their mouths at the same time, ready to feed on the life force they had been desiring to consume for days. It was like an invisible hand forcefully pried her mouth open, Bayley couldn't do anything to fight back. What were they going to do to her?! Just then, she witnessed how a thick blue mist emerged from her mouth, splitting into two and flowing into the mouths of the demons. Bayley could only emit soft whimpers and widen her eyes in horror. Was this her life force? It didn't take long at all before she felt her head starting to become lighter and lighter...

This was it.

It was all over for Bayley Martinez...

But as sudden as these two monsters appeared into her life, the more sudden they let go of her shoulders, letting her drop to the ground with a loud thud. Her life force escaped from their mouths, returning safely to Bayley's. In a flash, her head broke through the numbness of her own mind. The ponytailed woman loudly gasped for air, black spots were dancing in front of her eyes. Oh thank God, she was still here. What the hell happened? Why did they let go of her? Viktor and Konnor were staring at something, no, someone standing behind their prey, they both looked like they were ready for a fight. Bayley looked behind her, wanting to take a look at her 'savior'.

She let out another loud gasp.

For a moment, the tall muscled man who was standing behind her looked like he was draped in shadows; but when you're frightened to death, your mind could often trick you into seeing the most horrifying things. The man had quite an astonishing length, almost standing seven foot tall. He was wearing a long black leather trench coat, the border almost touching the floor. Underneath the coat, he was wearing a black one-piece suit and black leather boots. His hands were clad in black leather fingerless gloves. His dark brown hair slightly reached over his broad shoulders. He sported a goatee which had the same hair color. On his head, he was wearing a black hat, covering half of his face in a shadow. A pair of emerald green eyes coldly glared straight at Konnor and Viktor; this glare would make every normal human back down in fear.

Bayley couldn't produce a single sound, not even a little squeak. At first her body was numbed with fear, now she was trembling all over. She wasn't sure if she would crawl over to her 'savior' to beg him to take her away from her attackers or to give it another desperate shot to escape.

Right now, neither Viktor and Konnor, nor the man of mystery were paying attention to the ponytailed woman. They were glaring at each other, as if they would break into a fight at any moment.

'Deadman...' Konnor hissed. 'Did you finally come out to fight us?'

The 'Deadman' slowly shook his head. 'You two fools still haven't learned anything, did you?' he growled with a low voice. Bayley already thought his appearance was frightening, but his voice gave her goose bumps all over her body. 'Your pride has blinded you permanently... only the most arrogant idiots would do that to themselves.'

Suddenly, he looked down at Bayley, who was still staring at him. She slightly jumped when her eyes met his; those impossibly green eyes seemed to pierce straight into her soul.

'You are the one I'm searching for.' 'Deadman' said.

Before Bayley could question him, the mysterious man knelt down and put his hands on her body. And much to her shock and horror, Bayley saw how his hands went straight into her body, without leaving any kind of trauma, not even leaving a drop of blood... as if he was a phantom. Bayley tried to scream in her horror, but only managed to bring out some shaky whimpers. Just then, the 'phantom' grabbed something inside. She didn't know what, but he got something. It send a shock throughout her entire body. Her surroundings started spinning in front of her eyes, huge black spots darkened her sight. She fought to stay awake, but her head felt so heavy, as if somebody bound a weight to it. It all became too much for her.

Bayley let out a high-pitched shaky groan before she closed her eyes, falling into the darkness of her mind.

The 'Deadman' twisted his hands and slowly got up, pulling something out of Bayley's body; her soul. Her being looked exactly like her owner, only slightly more transparent. He carried the unconscious soul in his arms, leaving Bayley's physical body on the floor. The 'Deadman' glared back at Viktor and Konnor.

'I will see you soon enough...'

He switched his attention on the wall and out of nowhere, a dark portal crackling with purple lightning appeared. Konnor and Viktor knew exactly what the 'Deadman' was planning to do.

'Don't you dare to walk away from us now!' Viktor bellowed. 'Come back and fight us, you damn coward!'

The 'Deadman' didn't seem to listen to any of Viktor's angry words. Still carrying Bayley's soul in his arms, he stepped through the portal, into the darkness, ready to travel to a place no human had ever entered before. The lightning touched him, but it didn't hurt him or the unconscious soul. But before the dark portal could fully close behind him to disappear into thin air, Viktor managed to yell one more threat at the mysterious man.

'We will get you, Deadman! You will see!'


	23. You Can't Be Gone

**Chapter 23**

**You Can't Be Gone**

'Hmm... ugh... Oh, fuck... my head...'

Sami's head felt like spinning, it was hurting so much, as if it had been kicked for over a hundred times. For a moment he thought he was going lose consciousness again, but luckily it didn't happen. The redhead took a deep breath and tried to lift his head again, which he managed to do. He didn't want to close his eyes, afraid he would fall away again. Sami felt something sticky on his face. His fingers touched the stickiness and he looked at his fingertips. It was dried up blood.

Damn it, those bastards came out of nowhere. The redhead had stayed awake for two hours straight just to keep an eye on Bayley. Looking through the door opening, he watched as she tossed and turned on the couch, trying to get at least a bit of sleep. But try falling asleep when you're a victim of merciless stalking; you always had to be on your guard, you were always scared out of your mind. Sami had seen how it mentally destroyed Bayley. From a cheerful lively girl, she transformed into a nervous, anxious wreck. He would let her sleep in his bed any day, but she insisted she wanted to sleep on the couch; she was going through possibly the darkest time in her life, but it didn't take away her kindness. She was such a wonderful person... for her, he would stay awake for weeks if he had to. After a while, he was sure she was sound asleep. His eyelids were so heavy, he had to close them for just a moment... But as soon as he did that, two men wearing black leather shoulder pads were standing next to his bed, grabbing him and throwing him against the wall. But Sami refused to go down with a fight; if they wanted to hurt Bayley, they had to face him first! However, the redhead was no match for the two 'men'. He fought back as much as he could, launching punch after punch in their faces, but they were much stronger. It only took one blow of the 'man' with the black ponytail to his forehead to make the world spin in front of his eyes, before he was flung into the living room. With his last bit of consciousness, he managed to tell his beloved to run before passing out.

Wait... where was she?!

Sami looked up, looking at the couch. His heart dropped to his feet. Bayley was gone! Oh fuck, did those assholes get her?! The bearded redhead got up on his feet, doing this caused the pain in his head to increase so much he thought it would explode. But he couldn't give a single damn about his painful head; he had to find Bayley, right now!

'Bayley?!' Sami called out. 'Are you here?!' There was total silence in the apartment, she was not here. Just then, Sami noticed the glass doors that gave access to the balcony were open, allowing the cold wind of the night to flow into the apartment. Did they capture her and get away by jumping off the balcony? Or did Bayley manage to escape on her own? That means she could still be out there! Sami ran to the balcony and looked down the railing. There was nothing in the bushes. The redhead exclaimed his girlfriend's name once more, but there was no answer.

Jesus Christ, he had to find her!

Sami quickly grabbed his cell phone, apartment keys and car keys from the kitchen table and ran towards the front door. He opened it and slammed it shut behind him after he got out of the apartment, loud enough to wake up the neighbors. Sami ran down the stairs as fast as he could and exited the apartment complex.

His heart was pounding in his head as he ran towards the parking lot to get inside his car. The most horrific scenarios were playing throughout his head, causing sweat to run down his temples, mixing with the blood on his face; those bastards finding Bayley while she's hiding behind a container in a dark alley, dragging her away while she's screaming at the top of her lungs. Dear God, he could already hear her imagined screams in his head, his head started to hurt more because of that. But what if she was still hiding? The possibility was small, but it was there either way. Sami desperately held onto that possibility. He reached his car, swung open the car's door and got in. With a brief glance in the car's mirror, he noticed that half of his face was covered with blood. He started the engine and the car drove away from the parking lot with screeching tires. However, Sami didn't make too much speed; yes, he freaking the fuck out now, but if he would race through the city with a panic-fueled speed, he would end up in an accident for sure. And if he would be dead, he would never be able to save Bayley.

Sami drove with a slow but steady speed and lowered his window and peeked outside, hoping he would catch a glimpse of her. He had absolutely no clue where she could possibly be, which made the situation even more frightening. He called out Bayley's name numerous times as loud as he could. But no matter how many times he called her, he didn't get a response. He drove past many alleys, but Bayley wasn't in any one of them. The dark sky of the night had colored to a lighter shade, announcing that dawn would be coming soon. Oh damn, how long had he been out?! Sami's mouth started to become dry, but he didn't give up. He called for Bayley over and over again, but this time, he got a response... but it was not the response he was hoping for. A man in his mid-forties wearing a white wife-beater opened the window of one of the buildings Sami was driving past by and angrily bellowed: 'Shut the hell up, you dumb fuck! People are trying to fucking sleep here!' So much for help.

As minutes ticked by, Sami started to get more and more panicked. God, what if those bastards that attacked him had already caught her?! Judged by their sudden appearance in his bedroom, the redhead was convinced it were those 'shadows' that had been making Bayley's life a living hell. From now on, he would never be skeptic whenever somebody would bring up something about the supernatural. 'Please be okay, please Bayley, give me a sign that you're still okay...' he whispered to himself. He had sworn he would protect Bayley, and if those assholes had indeed caught her and perhaps, in the most horrifying worst case scenario imaginable, killed her... he would never be able to forgive himself, for as long as he would live. He would always remember that he had failed to protect the woman he loved with all his heart.

However, not all hope was completely lost yet.

The bearded redhead wasn't too far away from the metro. He knew the metro was a fairly large place, large enough to hide over there. Could it be that Bayley could maybe be hiding there? Sami decided to give it a shot; if she was not over there, the chances that she would be still out there would go from small to impossible. He reached the staircase that lead underground. Sami parked his car at the other side of the road and got out, running towards the stairs.

His head felt like exploding, his heart was pounding violently in his head. The redhead went down the staircase, calling out Bayley's name once more. His loud voice, along with his footsteps, echoed throughout the empty metro. Again, there was agonizing silence. Sami was about to freak out more, but when he reached the end of the staircase, his heart skipped a beat.

He had found her.

There she was, Bayley Martinez. She was just less than two meters away from the redhead, lying still on her back on the tiled floor of the metro. Sami didn't hesitate for a single moment and ran towards her, falling on his knees as soon as he got near her. Catching his breath with heavy gasps, he stared at her. Bayley's eyes were closed, as if she was sound asleep. But she didn't seem to hear her boyfriend, since she didn't open them.

Was she...?

Oh God.

No, oh fuck, please God, no!

This couldn't be, this wasn't happening!

She was dead, Sami was convinced of that. He was too late to save her. Those bastards had won. Tears rolled down the redhead's face as he cried hysterically.

'No... Bayley, no!' he sobbed.

The woman he loved so much was dead and it was all his fault. He wasn't there in time to save her from the men in the leather shoulder pads. He couldn't protect her, his promise turned out to be one fat lie. Sami cradled Bayley's body and held her close against him, pressing his teary cheek against her forehead.

'I'm sorry...' Sami cried with a soft shaky voice. 'I'm so sorry...'

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide in surprise. Did he just hear that right? Did he just hear her... breathing?! He held his ear close to her nose and his heart skipped another beat. He felt her warm breath against his ear. She was alive! Dear God almighty, she was still alive! But she needed help, right away. With trembling fingers, Sami fished his cell phone out of pocket and immediately dialed the emergency number. He pressed the cell phone against his ear, wishing somebody would hear his call.

'911, what's your emergency?' a woman on the other side of the line asked after a few seconds.

'Hello?! I-I need help, please!' Sami practically shouted, his voice shaking.

'What's the problem, sir?'

'It's my girlfriend! She's unconscious, she's barely breathing, I need an ambulance, please!'

'Can you tell me the address?'

'Rhodes Street, we're in the metro!'

'Alright sir, we're sending an ambulance right now.'

'Please, hurry!'

'Stay with her during the time you're waiting, see if she does something.'

'Y-yes, I will!'

Sami slightly shook Bayley's shoulder, but even to that, she wouldn't respond Sami gently stroked her hair over and over. 'Hold on, baby...' the redhead sobbed. 'Help is on its way, just hold on for a little longer, alright? Stay with me, for the love of God, please, don't leave me... You can't be gone, please, wake up... Wake up, Bayley, come on, wake up... Please... I love you...'


	24. Welcome To The Demon Realm

**Chapter 24**

**Welcome To The Demon Realm**

When she finally regained consciousness, Bayley was immediately greeted with a massive headache.

She clenched her eyes shut and rolled on his side, letting out a soft grunt. Holy hell, what happened? The last time she had a headache like this was when she went out one time with Alexa and drank one or two margaritas too much, all because Alexa convinced her to do so; from that night on, Bayley only stuck with soda whenever she would go out. She tried to get up, but her stomach suddenly clenched together; the ponytailed woman was afraid she was going to throw up, so she lied down again. She felt she was lying on something soft, but on that moment her mind couldn't progress on what she was actually lying. Bayley relaxed her body and tried to sit up again; this time, it worked. But it didn't ease her headache, though. She softly sighed, rubbing her temples. She slowly opened her eyes and saw on what she was lying.

Dark blue velvet sheets.

A bed... she must be lying on a bed, the young woman realized.

Bayley had now fully opened her eyes and looked around her in awe. Yes, she was indeed lying on a bed, and it looked so much different than her bed in her apartment. It looked like it was made in the medieval times; it was large enough for two people to sleep in, had curtains with the same material the sheets were made of and four wooden pillars with graceful patterns carved into it supported the ceiling above the bed. But it was not only the bed that was elegant. The walls of the bedroom Bayley had found herself staying in were painted in shade of broken white. The light of the full moon outside in the dark sky dimly illuminated the bedroom through the huge window, allowing Bayley to have a better look on her surroundings. There was an oak dressing table, there was no doubt about it that it was an antique one. A large black carpet covered most of the bedroom's floor. A wardrobe was standing near the door, but somehow it was likely there weren't any clothes in it.

The bedroom looked elegant... but at the same time, it looked haunting.

'Where am I...?' Bayley whispered to herself in wonder.

She was still wearing her own clothes, there weren't any signs of them being attempted to remove or anything. There was no pain in her ankle either... but why? Didn't she break it earlier when she tried to get away from those 'men'? Bayley carefully touched her ankle, mentally preparing herself for a strong jolt of pain. But she felt nothing... as if it had never been broken in the first place! But how? How was this possible? Bayley feared she was going to lose consciousness again, it almost became too much for her. This strange room, her ankle that seemed to be completely healed... This was crazy.

Bayley got up from the bed and walked towards the window. Even walking wasn't painful anymore for her. She looked outside; the sight was quite enchanting. She saw an ocean of trees in the distance, not far away from where she was. A forest, she was near a forest! The full moon stood high in the dark sky, making the sight even more beautiful. But there was no time to gawk outside; Bayley had to know where she was. She walked towards the door and slowly opened it; the door emitted a loud creak, as if it hadn't been opened in ages. Bayley carefully peeked outside, unsure if the 'Deadman' was waiting for her outside the bedroom, ready to hurt her even worse than her attackers were planning to do. She didn't hear anything, it was completely silent. The moonlight that shined through the window at the end of the hallway was the only source of light she had. Despite the dim light, the ponytailed woman noticed there was nobody waiting for her, much to her relief. She exited the bedroom, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

The hallway looked a little less elegant compared to the bedroom. The faded green wallpaper was torn off on some places of the wall and a few old paintings had been slightly tilted. This kind of decoration would fit perfectly with the interior of a haunted house... This must be a house, Bayley realized. A mansion, maybe. Was this the house of the 'man' who had taken her? Goose bumps appeared all over Bayley's body. This had to be the 'Deadman's' home, it looked just as haunting as he did when he appeared out of nowhere behind her in the metro.

She walked through the hallway, trying to make as less noise as possible, afraid the 'Deadman' would hear her. Before he had taken... whatever was inside her, he told her that she was the one he was searching for... Why? Was he after her life force as well, just like the others? Those two 'men' seemed to want a fight with him when they saw him... Did they have history? But unfortunately she didn't get anything of what they could've possibly said later on, since she had lost consciousness by that time. Dear God, this all felt like one big nightmare... and she was unable to wake up. There were a few other doors in the hallway, but Bayley refused to open them; who knows what was hiding in the shadows inside the other rooms.

She reached a long wooden staircase on her right which led downstairs. Maybe there would be an exit down there, if Bayley would be careful enough she could possibly escape from this house. But what if the 'Deadman' was awaiting her downstairs? The possibility was there of course. Realizing that increased Bayley's heartbeat, but she decided to give it a shot either way. Since her ankle had been mysteriously healed, she was able to run again and if that bastard would try to do anything to her, she would make a run for it as fast as she could. She would hide in the woods outside if she had to.

When Bayley put her foot on the first step of the staircase, it softly creaked; she had to take it slowly. Step by step, she walked down the stairs, practically holding her breath by this point. As the descended down the stairs, she laid eyes on the big hallway on the lowest floor. This wasn't a normal house, Bayley realized. This was indeed a mansion. A huge golden chandelier must have been illuminating the hallway with the light of the sun before it became covered in dust and cobwebs. A large old dark red carpet covered most of the wooden floor downstairs. More old paintings decorated the walls which had the same paint as the walls in the bedroom. The wooden door looked like it was left unguarded. Here too, the light of the moon served as the only source of light. This mansion looked like it had been abandoned years ago... it made a shiver run up Bayley's spine.

She wanted to get out of here, right now.

Bayley reached the end of the staircase and wanted to walk to the door. But halfway, she stopped when she felt an ice cold wind behind her, raising every hair on the back of her neck.

Oh no.

It was him, she was sure of it.

The ponytailed woman slowly turned around and immediately her hunch was proven right once more. The 'Deadman' was standing behind her, his green eyes staring straight into hers. Bayley wanted to run, but she couldn't. It was like the eyes had a paralyzing effect on her, her legs refused to move an inch. Bayley could feel her body starting to tremble.

'I see you have woken up.' 'Deadman' spoke.

'W-who are you?' Bayley asked with a frightened voice. 'What is this place?'

'Allow me to introduce myself...' The tall muscled man dressed completely in black took off his hat, like a gentleman would do when he introduced himself to a lady. 'I am the Undertaker. You are in my mansion.'

The Undertaker... that name was just as frightening and threatening as his appearance. It fit him perfectly, actually.

'Many demons around here call me by other names.' the Undertaker continued. 'Some call me 'Deadman'... others call me the 'Phenom'... while others prefer to call me the 'Lord Of Darkness'. But I will forever go in the history books of the Demon Realm as the Undertaker.'

'Demons? Demon Realm?' Bayley asked. 'What are you talking about?!'

'You are now in the Demon Realm, a world inhabited by demons of all kinds. It's impossible for a human to travel to this place, which is why humanity is forever destined to remain in the Mortal Realm.'

Bayley's head felt like spinning. This wasn't real, this all had to be a bad dream. She had to hold her head between her hands in order to stop the spinning feeling inside her head. 'What... I... I don't... What do you...' she stammered with a soft voice.

'I understand this might be upsetting for you.' Undertaker said. 'But if I hadn't taken you with me, Viktor and Konnor would've killed you by now.'

'Viktor and... Konnor?'

'They are two demons who consume the life force of virgins to increase their strength. I assume you were their target.'

So that's why they were stalking her these hellish days? All because she happened to be a virgin? Bayley thought she was going to lose her mind.

'Your physical body has been left behind in the Mortal Realm; only the soul of a human is able to travel to the Demon Realm.' Undertaker calmly explained. 'Your soul is still connected to your body, though. Everything that might happen to you here, might affect your body in your world.'

'You mean I am... dead in the Mortal Realm?'

'No, you are not dead. Your soul can return to your body, but only if you travel to a portal that leads to the Mortal Realm.'

'Then please, for the love of God... send me back...' Bayley answered, on the verge of tears. 'This is not what I want...'

'I'm afraid you can't return just yet. You see, I need your help. I have been searching for somebody with a soul like yours. A soul that is capable of taking my powers. I have seen your aura, you are able to hold my powers without perishing. The reason why Konnor and Viktor are feeding on the life force of virgins is because they want to fight me. I need somebody who is worthy to fight alongside me... and that person is you, young lady.'

Bayley thought she was going to faint at any moment now, this had all become way too much for her.

The Undertaker... demons... Viktor and Konnor... the Demon Realm... the Mortal Realm... her soul... powers...

This was a nightmare.

A nightmare she was unable to wake up from.

**Oh no... it looks like things have taken a turn for the worst for Bayley. Will she ever be able to return home? Will Viktor and Konnor be stopped once and for all? Can Sami find a way to bring back his beloved Bayley? What is the full story of the mysterious Undertaker? You will find the answers soon enough in the next part of the story in 'Into The Darkness - Book Two: Rest In Peace'.**

**I want to thank you all for reading the story, faving, following and reviewing it! See you next time! **


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